A Fianna Fail TD has criticised a health board for being "economical" with the facts. The board told him a constituent had had a cataract operation, but he said it did not disclose that the woman's family had had to pay for it.
The health board and the Minister for Health and Children said Mr John McGuinness TD was not told the woman's family had paid because he did not ask that specific question.
Mr McGuinness said he has put the matter down for discussion at the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party and that he believed he would be supported by other TDs unhappy at the replies they were getting from health boards.
Mr McGuinness, who represents Carlow-Kilkenny, had asked the Minister why there had been a delay in dealing with a cataract problem affecting a pensioner in Co Carlow.
Shortly afterwards, he received a letter from the South Eastern Health Board's regional manager, Mr Peter Finnegan, which said the patient had had her cataract operation. When he conveyed this to the family, Mr McGuinness learned that the woman would have had to wait until after March of next year for a cataract operation as a public patient.
Not wanting her to wait this long, a relative paid for it to be done privately.
Mr McGuinness has said the health board was "economical" with the facts and the health board's reply to him omitted the key piece of information.
Meanwhile, nurses at Dublin's major hospitals are to put pressure on the Department of Health and the hospital management to reduce problems in accident and emergency departments.
Nurses at Beaumont Hospital are to meet the Minister for Health before Christmas to discuss the introduction of new procedures at the hospital which would alleviate overcrowding and excessive workloads.
Industrial action at the A&E department was deferred yesterday after management agreed patients would not be transferred to Beaumont from other hospitals unless beds were available. It was also agreed that senior medical staff must carry out ward rounds before 11 a.m. to help free beds. A bed management group, to include nurses, will also be set up to monitor the efficient usage of beds.
The Irish Nurses' Organisation said Beaumont's A&E department had a particular problem with overcrowding because the amount of space in the hospital has meant up to 30 people can be put on trollies when beds are not available.
The INO said it is to assess the situation within the hospitals in the coming weeks and will then meet hospital management and the Eastern Regional Health Authority to devise a method of acute bed management.