St Vincent’s hospital defers service for new melanoma cases

One of the State’s largest Dublin hospitals is to stop accepting new patients with suspected malignant melanomas for four months because it does not have enough consultants.

St Vincent’s University Hospital in Elm Park said it had taken the decision to refuse GP referrals from next month because it cannot guarantee patients will be seen in an acceptable time frame.

More than 700 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed in the Republic each year and there are 100 melanoma-related deaths. It is the third most common cancer found in the 15-44 age group. Early diagnosis is key to treatment.

St Vincent’s has three dermatology consultants and one locum consultant. “However, a combination of sick and maternity leave means there will be only one consultant and one locum available from May,” the hospital said. There had been efforts to advertise for a locum consultant “over a number of months . . . and this search is continuing”, while the recruitment of a permanent consultant would take place as soon as possible.

Suspension

The suspension of the service from May to September had also been “dictated by the extensive workload and follow-up consultations with existing patients”.

The move was described as “surprising and shocking” by Stephen McMahon of the Irish Patients Association. Criticising the lack of contingency plans, he said: “[St Vincent’s] has a duty of care to all patients and a responsibility to ensure they are treated quickly. In my view, it can’t just say it’s a staffing issue which is out of its hands.”

Private patients “will probably be able to go elsewhere”, he said, which will leave public patients bearing the brunt of the decision: “This will be very distressing for many people,” Mr McMahon said, adding consultants could be hired from abroad on short-term contracts.