Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
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John Paul O'Shea (FG), Cork North-West

I thank the Minister of State for his response and for his engagement on this issue. I very much welcome the commitments made, particularly in relation to the additional theatre capacity, which will be available form this Friday and the opening of the Cork surgical hub in a number of weeks. I want to emphasise that for patients waiting for orthopaedic care in Cork, action is what is required now. We have almost 7,500 people waiting for an outpatient orthopaedic appointment. These are simply not numbers on a spreadsheet. They are living with pain, reduced mobility and uncertainty about when they will finally be seen.
I referred earlier to the case of John, a young man in my constituency who has been on the urgent outpatient waiting list since 2025. He still cannot get a date to see an orthopaedic consultant and his pain has become so severe that he was referred to a pain management consultant in May this year, and he cannot get an appointment for that either. That is not acceptable and it is not an acceptable patient journey.
I reiterate that I have been raising this directly with hospital management and I have been told repeatedly that options are being explored to increase capacity in waiting times. Almost 12 months later, however, we are still waiting for those options to translate into action.
I appreciate what the Minister of State said about the additional theatre capacity that will be put in place from this week, and also the opening of the Cork surgical hub in a couple of weeks. However, additional clinics are required so let us provide them. If additional consultant capacity is required let us address that. If additional diagnostic capacity is a barrier let us deal with that. Patients cannot be expected to wait indefinitely. I ask the Minister of State to ensure that the HSE South West and hospital management put forward a clear timeframe to reduce this waiting list with measurable targets and provide regular updates.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16