FF health pledge 'bogus and unachievable' says Noonan

A pledge by Fianna Fáil to eliminate waiting lists by 2004 has been described as "bogus and unachievable" by Fine Gael leader, Mr Micheal Noonan.

He told ireland.comthe outgoing Minister for Health, Mr Micheal Martin, had failed to eliminate waiting lists after five years in office and was now making a bogus promise to do it in two.

"He [Mr Martin] is now making false promises having failed to deliver in the past. The Taoiseach, the Minister for Health, senior officials in the department of Health all know that because of the way in which the health services are structured at present, it is a bogus promise to promise to eliminate waiting lists".

Mr Martin said today if he was Minister for Health in the next Government and waiting lists were not eliminated by 2004, he would not consider it a resigning issue.

Mr Martin said it wasn’t a resigning issue "because he knows it can’t be achieved", Mr Noonan said. Healthcare professionals today voiced scepticism about whether the Fianna Fáil plan could be implemented.

INO General Secretary Mr Liam Doran said implementing the plan was "highly improbable" because 26,000 elective patients currently on the waiting list would require an estimated 130,000 extra bed days.

"If you do the math, with three nurses required for every two acutely ill patients then clearly there are not enough nurses in the system, now or will there be in the immediate future to implement that plan."

"It has taken five years to reduce the waiting list by 5,000, I just don’t see how they can do 26,000 extra procedures - even allowing for patients being treated under the National Treatment Purchase Fund - on top of their everyday workload," he added.

Treatment in private hospitals or abroad will be purchased for adults on waiting lists for more than a year and children who had been waiting for more than six months under the scheme, which has been allocated €30 million this year.

The assistant secretary general of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, Mr Donal Duffy, echoed the concerns of the INO. He said even if 26,000 procedures were carried out by 2004 this void would be immediately filled by those waiting to get on the waiting list.

"Its a very, very ambitious target. We have fought diligently to provide the resources to allow consultants give patients the highest quality of care and we have also sought the true waiting list figures, including those waiting to get an appointment in outpatients", he added.