Official targets for waiting times were missed in a significant number of cases, writes MARTIN WALLIndustry Correspondent
THE NUMBER of patients on hospital waiting lists has increased by nearly 10 per cent over recent months, according to a new report drawn up by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
The HSE's performance monitoring report for January, which was presented to its board earlier this month, says that there were 42,774 patients at that time awaiting either in-patient or day-case procedures in hospitals.
The report also states that the official target of having children wait no longer than three months and adults no longer than six months for treatment was being missed in a significant number of cases.
"Our target is to ensure that children will wait no longer than three months and adults six months to access treatment," the report says.
"In January 60 per cent of children were waiting more than three months and 32 per cent of adults were waiting more than six months for in-patient treatment," it adds.
For day cases, 66 per cent of children and 31 per cent of adults were waiting over the target waiting times, the HSE report says. It also says that in January there were 17,711 in-patients and 25,063 day case patients registered with the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), which compiles waiting list figures, giving a combined total of 42,774.
The HSE report includes patients waiting for treatment from day one. The NTPF, in its official figures, only counts patients after they have been waiting for three months.
The HSE report maintains that the January figures represent an increase of 9 per cent over the combined figure for last August, when there were 39,176 patients awaiting treatment in hospitals.
It says that last August there were 16,818 in-patients and 25,063 day case patients on waiting lists in hospitals.
The report says January figures represent a rise of 5.3 per cent in in-patients registered with the NTPF and an increase of 12 per cent of day cases, compared with August figures.
These statistics represent active waiting patients only, ie approximately 77 per cent of all patients waiting, and exclude those patients prescheduled (namely those that have an appointment time in the next three months but are still waiting) and suspended patients.
It should be noted that according to NTPF definitions, patients are not considered to be on the waiting list until they have been waiting for more than three months. Up to this point, arrangements for care could be taking place for a significant number of patients.
Thus, the total number of people awaiting treatment is the total number of patients waiting greater than three months. However, for completeness of information, all data is presented in this performance monitoring report, it states.
The HSE report says there were more than 1,800 patients awaiting in-patient procedures at St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin in January, including 105 who had been waiting for more than two years.
There were 1,380 people on the in-patient waiting list at Beaumont, including 97 who had been waiting for longer than two years.
There were 1,052 patients on the waiting list at the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore, 991 at the Mater in Dublin and 882 at CUH.