FINE GAEL health spokesman Dr James Reilly called for an increase in the number of neurosurgeons working in the State.

He said the Republic’s total of 10 neurosurgeons was the lowest in Europe.

“I have a personal knowledge of this in that a friend and colleague of mine with a brain tumour waited for four weeks to get into Beaumont Hospital.’’

Dr Reilly cited the case of a Wexford patient who last year was told to arrive in Beaumont on a specific day because of a recurrence of symptoms following a brain tumour removal three years ago. She was advised the night before she was due to attend the hospital that there was no bed available.

That was the reality for people, said Dr Reilly.

“The consultant to whom I spoke at that time said he is faced with having to leave a patient with a brain tumour at home because somebody else who is unconscious must be treated as an absolute emergency.’’

Minister for Health Mary Harney said if they wanted to talk about the number of neurologists they must also consider the number of junior doctors they had.

They had an unprecedented number of non-consultant hospital doctors in neurology compared with anywhere else in the world.

They also needed to consider the performance in the different hospitals, said Ms Harney. In some hospitals, consultants in neurology were seeing 80 or 90 new patients a month and in others it was down to 20 or 22.

“We have more than 7,000 hospital doctors. By any standard, that is a large number. The challenge for us is to switch it from non-consultant doctors to consultants.’’