Hospital waiting lists still growing, HSE report finds

Hospital waiting lists continue to grow, despite the HSE forecasting an overspend of at least €510 million this year, according to a new report.

A total of 364,182 people are waiting for an outpatient appointment, according to the HSE’s performance assurance report for August, the eighth consecutive month in which the list has grown. There were 300,752 people on outpatient lists at the end of last year.

The number waiting on the list for more than a year has risen from 4,937 at the end of last year to 41,604 in August.

There are 28,620 outpatients on the waiting list at Tallaght hospital, 28,558 people at Galway University Hospital, 24,028 at Waterford Regional Hospital, and 20,823 at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.

The waiting list for inpatient/daycare treatment rose again from 7,727 in July to 8,689 in August. This compares to just four adults waiting more than eight months on the list at the end of 2013. The number of children waiting over eight months on the inpatient and day-case list also rose, from 1,505 in July to 1,749.

The HSE says the projected €510 million overspend by the end of this year does not include an expected overrun on costs incurred by the State Claims Agency, mostly related to health service insurance claims. This may exceed €100 million.

The HSE argues half of the 2014 deficit relates to budget reductions outside its control and therefore not deliverable, including €108 million in unspecified pay savings and €30 million in pensions excess. Spending to the end of August was €327 million over target, the report said.

HSE secretary general Tony O'Brien told the Oireachtas health committee yesterday hospitals will overspend their collective budgets by an estimated €273 million by the end of this year. This compares to a €180 million cost overrun last year.

Emergency department admissions were up almost 2 per cent, outpatient attendances were up 25 per cent, while the ambulance service was receiving almost 1,000 extra calls each month.

Despite the overspend, Mr O’Brien said that in relative terms, the health service had the lowest average supplementary of the six Government departments or agencies requiring one since 2008. He claimed the HSE was “99.8 per cent compliant” with its available budget over the period.

Mr O'Brien called on the Sunday Business Post to release details of an alleged HSE document which, the paper claimed recently, showed waiting lists were being "manipulated". The HSE had no policy of manipulating waiting lists and would not condone such an action, he said. "Had the HSE been aware that any manager urged employees to manipulate waiting lists, if indeed it ever happened, this would be the subject of appropriate disciplinary action."