Services to cancer patients at Wexford General Hospital may be interrupted because the South-Eastern Health Board has failed to secure the services of a new oncologist, it has emerged.
The current oncologist, Dr Seamus O'Reilly, has resigned and is due to take up a new position at Cork University Hospital, leaving Wexford General at the end of the month.
This week the health board said it had offered the position to another doctor but was preparing a "contingency plan" because the offer had not yet been accepted. The board said it had been hoping to double the number of oncologists operating out of Wexford Hospital and recently re-advertised the second position.
However, local TD and Minister of State Mr Hugh Byrne said he was very unhappy with the board's inability to guarantee continued cancer services at the hospital. It was a "most unhappy situation for all patients currently attending the oncology unit", he said.
"At present, Wexford General Hospital is providing a full range of oncology services but as and from July there is no guarantee that the current level of service will be provided.
"I want the South-Eastern Health Board to give a very firm commitment to all concerned that the patients involved in these procedures will continue to receive a full programme of quality care here in Wexford. I think that it is wrong that patients already in the midst of a difficult situation should have the additional worry of this to contend with."
Mr Byrne said he had raised the issue with the Minister for Health, Mr Martin.
However, the health board's statement said a candidate had been selected. "We are awaiting a final decision from the candidate on whether the offer will be taken up. The health board is committed to continuing the provision of the quality service that has been established in the region by Dr O'Reilly and we are putting in place a contingency plan to deal with the interim period."