Waterford University Hospital has issued an emergency alert to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly due to delays in returning up to 5,000 cancer test results.
The Irish Examiner reported today that patients were waiting several months for results because of a major laboratory backlog in the southeast.
In the Dáil this afternoon, Sinn Féin's Spokesperson on Health David Cullinane - who is a Waterford TD - told Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that more staff were needed at the hospital.
Rob Landers, Clinical Lead of the Histopathology Department at Waterford University Hospital, said that while these are routine cases with a low risk, they are not negligible.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Mr Landers said some patients could be waiting between three and four months for their results.
He said that in a "completely adequately resourced health system" they would expect to get these results turned around within three to four weeks, so it is "a significant delay".
Mr Landers moved to reassure people that when suspicions are flagged in biopsies or cancer specimens, they are "dealt with without delay".
"Our worry is - and it's a small but significant worry - that in cases where the biopsies don't look particularly suspicious that there may be a hidden cancer there," he said.
"That's what we're worried about and that's why it's important to try and get on top of this backlog."
Mr Landers said staff shortages needed to be addressed to deal with the caseload coming into the laboratory, adding that the number of consultant and scientific staff would need to be doubled.
He said there are plans to tackle the shortages and new posts have been approved in the last few weeks, although these will take time to come on stream.
"In the meantime, what we can do is put in additional hours and ask people to work into the evenings and at weekends," Mr Landers said.
"We've enlisted help from other hospitals as well in this very acute phase of this backlog to try and bring it under control".
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