SOME 820 patients across the State were waiting more than three months for crucial bowel cancer tests at the end of last month, the Health Service Executive confirmed yesterday.
It also said that more than 100 patients were waiting longer than a year for their colonoscopies and a small number of patients were waiting more than two years.
This is despite the fact that Minister for Health Mary Harney told the HSE in December she wished to see colonoscopies performed within one month of patients being referred.
The consequences of long waiting times for these tests were highlighted by Kilkenny woman Susie Long, whose bowel cancer diagnosis was delayed while she waited seven months for a colonoscopy. She died in October 2007.
At that time the Government promised waiting times for colonoscopies would be addressed, and while the numbers waiting have fallen since last October, the HSE’s own figures indicate many hospitals are still not meeting the targets set by Ms Harney.
Dublin’s Tallaght Hospital has the most patients waiting.
The HSE said it is working with the National Treatment Purchase Fund to achieve the target waiting time. It said: “The number of people waiting longer than 12 months was 115 in March 2009 compared with 245 in October 2008. This represents a drop of 130 or 53 per cent in the number of people waiting.
“The overall number of people waiting longer than three months in March 2009 was 820, compared with 1,921 in October 2008. This represents a drop of 1101 or almost 57 per cent in the number of people waiting.”
The long waiting times have been condemned by the Irish Cancer Society.