Overcrowding in A&E departments is due in large part to a failure to put resources where they are needed into the health service, the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children was told today.

Three groups representing Irish neurologists and their patients highlighted to the Committee the crisis in neurology services in Ireland.

The group pointed out that 20% of admissions to A&E are for neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.

These patients have no choice but to present to their A&E because of a waiting time of up to two years to see a consultant and a lack of support services in their communities, the groups said.

The Committee was told that improved access is needed to neurology services through links to GPs and specialist nurses.

The groups also called on the Government to allocate substantial, ring-fenced funding for neurology services, similar to the funding granted to the heart and cancer strategies.

The Committee meeting was addressed by the Neurological Alliance of Ireland, the Irish Institute of Clinical Neurosciences (IICN) and the Irish Association for Quality and Safety in Healthcare.

According to Dr Orla Hardiman of the IICN, there are many people in Ireland with neurological conditions who wait years for a diagnosis, only to find that the services are not there to treat them.

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