I raise the very serious backlogs for testing of routine samples at University Hospital Waterford, UHW. The current waiting time is approximately 20 weeks for non-urgent histology cases. When I raised this matter with the Minister for Health and the HSE, the response stated that the demand on histology services at UHW far exceeds the capacity. UHW also claims it has an ever-increasing workload, with rises in complex cancer cases. We need to get more resources in there. I have a number of constituents who are 20 weeks on a waiting list. It is a serious worry for people when they have had a biopsy. Having to wait 20 weeks for it to be analysed is too long. They need more resources in the hospital laboratory to deal with this and take people out when they get a good diagnosis or whatever they get. Hopefully it is good but sometimes it is not so good. Time is of the essence in these cancer cases especially.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter with me. I will revert to the Department and the HSE immediately on it. The timelines the Deputy is talking about are too long. Patients and their doctors need rapid responses to biopsies. I will look into what capacity constraints there might be at the moment with a view to addressing them.