Readers on hospital waiting lists: ‘I have no faith in the system’

There are 75,000 people waiting for inpatient and day-case procedures in Irish hospitals. However, a €350 million investment in hospital waiting lists will reduce them to their lowest level in five years, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said.

The Minister launched the 2022 Waiting List Action Plan on Friday, which is set to be the first of a “multi-annual” reform programme to “stabilise and reduce” waiting lists and times in the Irish health service.

We asked Irish Times readers to share their experience of waiting for hospital appointments. Here are some of the responses we received. Some entries have been edited for length.

‘Waiting nearly three years for a breath test’

CHRISTINE MAYNARD

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I have been waiting over 16 months for a chest CT [scan] and nearly three years for a breath test. These problems started well before Covid.

‘Money spent recklessly and without due care’

CATRIONA MILLER

“I recently had an emergency visit to the ED in the Beacon Hospital in Sandyford. Just to be clear, I rang St Vincent’s first and they had a three-hour wait for triage and then it was in order of seriousness. I was not a life-and-death case but I was very, very unwell so decided to go to the Beacon. I was triaged within minutes, saw a doctor within an hour and had bloods and an ultrasound within the following hour. All results were back so quickly and another consultation with the doctor. It cost me €580 but was worth every penny for the relief and peace of mind. The only difference is money.

“If the public hospitals were funded to work this quickly and efficiently, admissions would be cut by at least half. So many people are admitted for these simple tests that seem to take weeks to do and more weeks to get results costing huge amounts of money as inpatients when [it’s] not really necessary. The money in the healthcare system is spent recklessly and without due care. Get rid of the top CEOs who have been around since the Charlie Haughey era and spend their salaries on the patients.”

‘If I hadn’t changed consultants I’d still be waiting’

ANITA KELLY

“[I] waited 2½ years for a bowel resection even though I was classified as urgent. I was high risk for a bowel obstruction and perforation. Eventually got it done when a consultant I attended in Roscommon hospital wrote a stern letter to my consultant in Galway asking for my surgery to be done.

"I received a letter from my consultant in Galway within a couple of weeks and he told me he was going to refer me to a new consultant who had just started and had space on [their] waiting list... I was referred to new consultant and had my surgery done within a couple of months. If I hadn’t changed consultants I’d still be waiting for my surgery.”

‘Eleven years and counting’

ANONYMOUS

“My son was placed on a waiting list in Kerry General Hospital at the age of 12 months for a simple tongue tie reversal, he is now 10 years on that list.

"Four years ago, I paid a private clinic to do the job, it took less than an hour from entering the clinic to leaving. My son to this day is still on the hospital waiting list as we want to see how long it actually takes them to call him. This summer it will be 11 years and counting.”

‘I was disgusted and infuriated’

EMILY LARKIN

“I have been on a waiting list for 16 months for a cardiac MRI in Tallaght Hospital. I was told there was something wrong with my heart during an inpatient stay and that it needed to be further investigated. I received the MRI privately after waiting for months and hearing nothing back. I was diagnosed with a heart condition in the later months after the MRI and went for a heart procedure to correct my arrhythmia.

“However, this week I received a letter asking me if I would still like to remain on the waiting list for the cardiac MRI for investigation. I was disgusted and infuriated. To think, had I not have gone the private route, I could have been left waiting a year and a half to receive the scan and the urgent care that followed for a heart condition.”

‘It’s like being in a Third-World country’

ANONYMOUS

“I had a scan for a hiatus hernia in 2019. I was told it is “huge” and that it’s pressing on my right lung. I am on two inhalers and am a non-smoker. I have seen the surgeon twice in Galway University Hospital. When I saw him last, he said I would still have to wait months as there was a backlog. I already had to have my cataracts done in Belfast and have an appointment to see an orthopaedic surgeon there in July as I don’t want to have to wait years for knee surgery.

“It’s like being in a Third-World country with regard to healthcare. I don’t have a medical card or health insurance. I am seventy-two. I have absolutely no faith in our current health system.”

‘Cross [the] Border I would get urgent surgery straight away’

JOE FALLER

“I have three torn menisci, two in my left knee and one in my right knee, proven by MRI picture and report from radiologist. I’m waiting now patiently in my wheelchair for 14 months to see an orthopaedic consultant. After calling his office I got told that I have to wait at least another ridiculous four years to see an orthopaedic consultant.

Cross [the] Border I would get the urgent surgery done straight away, but to get cover from HSE there is the S2 form to be signed first from the consultant who I’m seeing, [at the] earliest in four years’ time from now. That shows me clearly that Ireland has no health system at all. The plan to reduce the waiting list in the next five years shows me clearly how useless this Government on this matter really is.”