Minister for Health James Reilly has said that no-one should be waiting longer than 12 months for an out-patient appointment to see a medical specialist.
Speaking this morning, he urged patients who had been given an appointment date of longer than one year to contact the HSE.
He said if there were people in the health system telling people that they would have to waiting longer than one year for an out-patient appointment it was not acceptable and was against offiial policy.
Earlier this week the Minister told the Dáil that the number of people waiting longer than one year for an out-patient appointment had been cut by 95 per cent.
In an interview with Sean O'Rourke on RTÉ Radio, Dr Reilly also said there had been 470,000 unused out-patient appointments last year.
The Minister also said he was unhappy with cost control mechanisms put in place by health insurers.
He said there was poor audit of both doctors and hospitals by health insurance companies.
The Minister said he had told the State-own health insurer VHI that it should have medicial specialists in particular fields to challenge consultants in the same area.
Dr Reilly said he was seeking a report from the chief medical officer in the Department of Health regarding an RTÉ documentary to be screened tonight concerning the deaths of infants at a hospital in the midlands.
