The Vice President of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association said he and his colleagues are "tired of apologising to patients for the deficits in the systems."

Waterford based consultant Rob Landers was speaking to Damien on foot of the publication of an independent review of nine hospitals across the country - including University Hospital Waterford, which found 'unsafe' and 'unacceptable' treatment.

The report conducted in 2019, was never released by the HSE but has now been made public following a Freedom of Information request by the Irish Patients Association.

The report states that 50% or more of patients spent at least one night on a trolley before getting a bed or being discharged - while it recommended an end to the practice of placing trolleys on wards once the health system becomes stabilised.

The nine hospitals in question were University Hospital Waterford; Naas General Hospital; Tallaght University Hospital; the Midland Regional Tullamore, the Mater, Cork University Hospital, University Hospital Limerick; St Vincent’s University Hospital and Galway University Hospital.

Speaking on waiting lists, Rob Landers said "even one patient waiting three years for surgery is an indication that there is something fundamentally wrong in the Irish healthcare system.

"We have children waiting still waiting 18 months to two years in this country for scoliosis surgery, and lying in pain while they're waiting for it. It's unacceptable in a developed country like ours that this is still happening".

As part of the in-depth discussion Rob Landers said "part of the problem in Irish healthcare is that healthcare reforms are tied into a political cycle. So, if we have a new Minister for Health in two years time, yes there will be new policies but it will last for the life cycle of the government... so we just get a repeated cycle of blaming the previous administration without fundamentally changing the systems."

You can listen to Rob Landers' full conversation with Damien through the link in this podcast.

And for all Déise podcasts, click here.