Delays on outpatient lists lead to ‘higher risks’, says Donnelly
People on hospital outpatient waiting lists are at the highest risk, with the most recent figures showing 599,458 are in a queue for a first appointment, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said yesterday.
The greater risk is because of the delay in being seen by a specialist, although progress is being made in reducing the time people are waiting, he added.
The waiting time has come down to “an average” of 7.2 months but many are having to endure delays much longer than that.
It recently emerged the number of outpatients seen in hospitals per consultant has fallen by close to 30pc.
The aim is now to get back to 2016 levels and increase productivity, Mr Donnelly told HSE staff attending the Integrated Healthcare: Advancing Health Service Reform conference in Dublin.
Part of the reason for the fall in output by consultants was due to infrastructure, including lack of access to scans, but there was also a need for the doctors to look to themselves to tackle the problem, Mr Donnelly told the mediator, former RTÉ presenter Sean O’Rourke.
“Hospitals never had more staff,” he added. But hospital operating theatres are not being used enough, with output at around 60pc to 65pc, or even lower.
The minister said there needs to be more flexibility, with earlier and later starts to do more surgeries, as well as an increased number of outpatient clinics in the evening and on Saturdays.
“There is a lot of opportunity there,” he added.
Asked about the HSE’s decision to cut the reimbursement for older people in need of cataract surgery who go to Northern Ireland, from Cork and Kerry predominantly, he claimed it did not impact around 95pc of them.
The decision will leave pensioners who opt for the cross-border surgery hundreds of euro out of pocket.
Mr Donnelly conceded that cataract waiting lists for outpatient clinics and surgery in Cork are the longest in the country.
He said a new clinic in Ballincollig should bring down delays.
The HSE is guaranteed baseline funding of around €25.6bn in the upcoming Budget, but Mr Donnelly said he is still negotiating with the Department of Finance for money for new developments.
Speaking at the conference, HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster also said people on outpatient waiting lists are “at most risk” and the “safest patient is the one we are looking at”.