Thousands of patients are being forced to wait months for cancer test results because of a major laboratory backlog in the southeast.
The Irish Examiner reports bosses at Waterford University Hospital have issued an emergency alert to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly because "demand is exceeding capacity".
Senior medical sources have warned that up to 2,000 patients from St Luke’s Hospital, and thousands more from South Tipperary General Hospital and Waterford University Hospital are being forced to wait "up to six months in some cases" for their results.
The South/South West Hospital Group has insisted the delay is affecting "routine" cases and all urgent cases continue to be processed.
According to the Irish Examiner, Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow-Kilkenny John McGuinness said if the tests were not being examined, “how do they know they are not urgent?"
"It is an unacceptable situation, once again.
"It is quite shocking that nothing has been learned from the past.
"If we don't learn from the past, then people are not held responsible and we won't get the improvement in the services that we need because of the controversy that we are experiencing, once again."
