There’s been a 22 percent rise in the number of patients waiting over a year and a half on a hospital appointment across the MidWest in the past 12 months.
But the overall numbers on waiting lists at facilities including University Hospital Limerick and Ennis General has eased in the past month.
Latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund reveal that at the end of June, there were 46,508 people awaiting both inpatient and outpatient appointments across the UL Hospitals Group.
This marks a 3.3 percent increase in the space of a year – up from 44988 in June of last year.
However, the figures have eased since the previous month with a drop of around a thousand seen overall – UHL alone saw a drop of around 200, with around 10 less awaiting an appointment at Ennis General.
With regards to long-term waits, just shy of 6,800 people in the UL Hospitals Group were waiting 18 months or more to be seen at either an inpatient or outpatient appointment at the end of June.
This compares with 5,564 this time last year – an increase of over 1,200 or 22 percent.
But despite the large annual increase, it’s a drop of almost 70 on May of this year and there was nobody waiting that length for an inpatient appointment at Ennis General in that period, despite 52 waiting at least that length in June of last year.
The UL Hospitals Group has said that a significant growth in demand, an increase in the number of urgent referrals in some specialties and a shortage of consultants in other specialties are among the reasons.
UL Hospitals Response:
Overall, there has been a 5% increase in the number of outpatients waiting for an appointment at UL Hospitals Group between June 2017 and June 2018. The numbers waiting for an outpatient appointment at Ennis Hospital decreased marginally over that period.
Among the reasons for the overall increase for the Group is the significant growth in demand; an increase in the number of urgent referrals in some specialties, such as ENT and Orthopaedics and a shortage of consultants in other specialties.
All patients who are waiting for appointments are prioritised according to clinical need with urgent cases being the highest priority. Beyond this, UL Hospitals Group will continue to focus on seeing and treating those who have been waiting the longest.
In 2018, a particular focus is being placed on the validation of outpatient waiting lists by UL Hospitals Group in line with national plans to address wait times for patients. As part of the validation process, we are currently contacting all patients waiting over 6 months to see if they wish to remain on the waiting list. The purpose of this exercise is to ensure that existing resources are optimised and that we improve overall access times for patients. We would expect to see an improvement in the number of patients waiting extended periods of time as a result of this exercise.
In the year from June 2017 to June 2018, the number of patients waiting for an inpatient/day case appointments/procedures at UL Hospitals Group has decreased by 5%. In 2018, the HSE remains committed to reducing the number of patients waiting for hospital operations or procedures. In its recently published Action Plan, the HSE, Department of Health & the NTPF have committed to offering treatment to all patients who are for waiting more than 9 months for high volume procedures such as cataract operations and hip and knee replacements. UL Hospitals is working with the HSE towards meeting this target.
The HSE is also urging patients to let their hospital know as soon as possible if they cannot attend scheduled appointments so that other patients may be offered appointments
