Plan to cut waiting time to see specialists

PLANS to have the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) involved in a new scheme to remedy a situation where public patients are having to wait up to seven years to see a specialist have been welcomed by the Irish Patients Association.

Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney has asked the NTPF to cut waiting times for specialists by paying for private appointments for public patients.

Up to 5,000 patients in 10 centres around the country will be involved in a pilot project that will start in the middle of next month.

The project will run for about six months and the results will determine whether or not the scheme is fully adopted.

Irish Patients Association chairman, Stephen McMahon, said it was good that the pilot project was getting underway prior to the appointment of additional consultants and the provision of additional hospital beds.

Up to now the NTPF has only been involved in reducing the waiting times for surgical procedures for people who have already been assessed by a specialist. Those waiting longest to see a specialist will be prioritised under the scheme and conditions like acute arthritis or suspected prostate cancer will be targeted.

Some public patients suffering from severe arthritis have been waiting between four and seven years to see a specialist.

NTPF chief executive Pat O’Byrne said they had made progress in reducing in-patient lists and now wanted to see if the same could be done for people referred by their doctor to a hospital consultant.

The NTPF has e64 million to spend this year and the money from the new plan will come from this sum.

Irish Hospital Consultants Association secretary general Finbarr Fitzpatrick said the reason there were problems accessing consultants was because there were not enough in the first place.

There were just under 2,000 consultants at a time when more than 3,000 were needed, he said.

Dr Niall Ó Cléirigh of the Irish College of General Practitioners said while no one should be waiting years for treatment, the organisation was a bit uneasy about spending funds on private care when there was a need to invest in public services.

We should also be improving public services as well as cutting waiting times, he insisted.

Arthritis Ireland chief executive Mary Rose Tobin said it was crucial that people with arthritis are treated quickly.

“With treatment, you can limit development of deformities. Without it, you increase the chances of severe pain, incapacity and disability,” she said. While urgent cases were prioritised, routine ones were delayed.