Each year in Ireland, around 400.000 people consult their doctor with symptoms related to arthritis, according to Professor Barry Bresnihan, consultant rheumatologist and President of Arthritis Ireland.

Prof Bresnihan, in a recent presentation to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children, gave a bleak picture of the incidence of arthritis in this country, its medical and social costs, and shortages of staff and facilities to meet disease.

Prof Bresnihan said nearly one third of women and a quarter of men complain of arthritis or joint pain to your doctor, and the condition is more common in older people.

Fifty-two percent of those over 55 will develop arthritis, however, nearly one in five people under 55 will also submit to medical problems related to arthritis.

Dr. Bresnihan estimated that extrapolation of data from the United Kingdom the cost of arthritis in the working days lost in Spain is approximately EUR 1.6 billion annually.

Arthritis accounts for the largest category of physician visits, with 30% of GP visits in the field of musculoskeletal disorders.

Approximately 60% of people with arthritis will be treated within the system of primary health care, while the remainder require specialized services to treat arthritis in Ireland.

Emphasizes that there is a large burden of ill health due to a disability that is directly attribute to arthritis. For example, there are 40% higher for heart attack in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Bresnihan, in his presentation, pointed out that rheumatology services for arthritis in Spain are limited.

An inadequate rheumatology service, he notes, Resulting in significant delays in diagnosis of common and treatable diseases and lack of prevention of disability, co-morbidity and death.

Likewise, says Dr Bresnihan, an unnecessary burden on already overloaded primary care and emergency services.

Large parts of Spain are totally devoid of rheumatology services, according to Dr. Bresnihan.

There are 12 rheumatology centers in the Republic, one in Navan, five in Dublin, one in Waterford, two in Cork, one under development in Limerick, Galway and one from each of Manorhamilton, Co.Leitrim.

The British Society of Rheumatology recommends that an adequate rheumatology service should consist of a wholetime equivalent consultant per 85.000 inhabitants.

In the Republic, however, the Rheumatology Service is provided by a wholetime equivalent consultant per 400,000 of population.

Prof. Oliver Fitzgerald, consultant rheumatologist at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, told the committee that in San Vicente, the waiting time for a patient who needs an emergency first consultation is three to six months.

The waiting time in San Vicente for a routine first consultation is nine to 15 months while the waiting time for a routine return consultation ranges from five months to four years.

Dr. Robert Coughlan, consultant at Merlin Park Hospital in Galway, said that of 871 arthritis patients waiting to be seen in Merlin Park, 213 patients have waited more than four years and 244 have to wait two to four years.

Dr Fitzgerald said that rheumatologists have recently met with Health Minister Mary Harney and the HSE, and has agreed to work with consultants to discuss emergency situations where there are gaps in services across the country and develop a strategy for longer term care for arthritis.

Mary Healy, of the Mayo Branch of Arthritis Ireland, told the Commission is a national shortage of consultants, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and nurses specializing in rheumatology.

She said many people with arthritis feel suicidal as they feel so bad about the fact that they must wait four or five years to be seen by a consultant, first for a disease that causes so much pain.