Attempts to address inefficiencies in hospital waiting lists are to be addressed, it emerged at the April meeting of the Health Forum West last week in Merlin Park in Galway when it was revealed that in excess of 40,000 people are currently on the outpatient waiting list for treatment in Galway hospitals with a high proportion of those awaiting orthopaedic care.
In attendance for the first time at the meeting was Bill Maher, CEO of GRUHG – the body representing Galway and Roscommon public hospitals, who stated he was “very happy to be here and to use the four-hospital group as leverage in the interest of patients”.
Mr Maher said: “The 40,000 on the outpatient waiting list is a figure I would not be happy with and see as a priority to address. The real issue is not the numbers on the list but the length they are waiting. For example, if they all only waited six months, everyone would be very happy. The list however is not validated and until we write out to all 40,000, we would not be sure if they are still active on the list - for example a number of same patients are on the lists in Roscommon, Ballinasloe, and Galway. There are also some issues about definitions of patients, ie, are they new or for review, we’re not clear on that.”
While the 40,000 waiting list is a large figure, it was important to note that last year there was a high number of DNAs, ie, ‘did not attends’, Mr Maher added, stating that there were 35,000 DNAs in Galway last year.
“That concerns me and it remains one of our biggest challenges that people keep the appointments we make with them.”
Mr Maher added: “Through tightening up our clinical governance we will also look at how many of the follow-up appointments they make. We have seen that some are turning up eight times and that may not be the appropriate thing to do, so we would like to reduce the number of review patients and have more new patients and then to increase patient capacity.
“As part of our action plan now we will write out to patients to offer them a realistic appointment and also validate do they still really need an appointment – often up to 10-15 per cent will turn up as mistakes, ie, doubled up on lists.”
HSE chair Cllr Padraig Conneely, commented that people “waiting with bated breath for a letter for appointment will now instead receive this letter asking them do they still need to be on the list.”
Mr Maher replied that the reason the orthopaedic waiting list is so high at 7,500 is because there are seven orthopaedic surgeons in Galway, therefore numbers were not the main concern but the length of time it took to receive treatment. The ideal target would be within 12 months.
