Call for ‘urgent action’ as number on hospital waiting lists rises to 877,000

Almost 877,000 people were on some form of hospital treatment waiting list at the end of February, new figures show.

The number of outpatients waiting for general surgery has increased by 34 per cent since February 2020 to 11,412 by the end of last month.

The figures released by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) also show there is an additional 10,951 people now waiting for an orthopaedic appointment, an increase of 17 per cent from February last year, while a further 3,622 people are in line for gynaecologists. There has also been a 12 per cent increase in the number awaiting dermatology appointments and an 11 per cent rise in the number waiting to see urologists and cardiologists.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) called for “urgent action” to cut the “unacceptable” waiting times. The organisation noted there had been a particularly marked increase in the number of patients waiting with chronic pain for long periods. More than 1,700 people are now waiting more than a year for treatment, which is more than a three-fold increase since February 2020.

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The publication of the HSE National Service Plan last week sparked concerns among consultants that 2021 would see a second successive year of reduced public hospital appointments due to the pandemic, the IHCA president, Prof Alan Irvine, said. The plan foresees about 150,000 fewer outpatient appointments will be held in public hospitals this year.

Prof Irvine said the waiting list figures highlight the impact of hospital consultant shortages and capacity constraints. He said timely access to care was “vital in ensuring effective treatment and care for patients”.

“The dramatic increases in waiting times we are seeing will undoubtedly adversely affect patient outcomes and lead to a rise in healthcare costs. The indirect costs of ongoing symptoms impacting on people’s quality of life and their ability to work can also be substantial,” he added.

Prof Irvine said there was now a “grave concern” that the Minister for Health was not engaging sufficiently with the IHCA to agree “practical solutions to address the key factors that are driving our highly trained specialists to emigrate at a time when they are urgently needed”.

The appointment of additional hospital consultants on terms agreed with representative bodies is the “key enabler” required to tackle the waiting lists, he added.