Consultant’s insurance dispute ‘must be resolved’

THE head of the National Treatment Purchase Fund has urged an end to the hospital consultants dispute which threatens to block the only escape route long-suffering public patients have from excessive hospital waiting lists.

More than 1,500 consultants represented by the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) are to withdraw co-operation from the treatment purchase scheme from next Monday as part of their schedule of escalating industrial action.

A further 650 colleagues who are members of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) are also considering blanking the scheme as part of the same dispute with the Department of Health. The dispute centres on changes to consultants’ insurance cover.

Scheme director Maureen Lynott said yesterday she hoped the dispute would not worsen to that extent. “We certainly hope that this is averted; that anything that would affect patients and leave them waiting longer for treatment is avoided.”

Ms Lynott will this morning publish the fund’s annual report which will show that more than 10,000 long-waiting patients have received treatment under the scheme since it was set up almost two years ago.

Later today, Minister for Health Micheál Martin will announce details of the scheme’s budget for 2004 and any changes to the eligibility requirements and inter-country arrangements affecting patients this year.

Mr Martin indicated last December he would allocate at least €32m to operate the scheme this year, an increase of €1m on 2003. The arrangement allows patients stuck on public waiting lists for periods of over six months to apply for surgery and other medical procedures at private hospitals within the State or in hospitals in Northern Ireland and Britain, and to have it paid for by the Department.

The scheme relies on the co-operation of consultants here, however, as they must compile notes to brief the hospitals which take over the care of their patients, and they are responsible for follow-up care when patients return from treatment.

Some IHCA and IMO consultants have a more direct role as many of the treatments are purchased from private hospitals within the State where these consultants are employed.

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the IHCA has accused the Department of Health of handling the introduction of the Clinical Indemnity Scheme in a “hamfisted” manner.

Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick said consultants were scaling down on specific clinical activities because they are confused about the extent of cover for their duties under the new scheme.

“The small print is what really matters,” he said. “All the queries and worries now arising about the scope of the coverage could have been avoided.”

The Irish Patients Association yesterday pleaded with the two groups to call off any threat of action that would affect patients. “We view this as a very serious situation. If the consultants go ahead and strike, they will be leaving patients to suffer. Patients are being used as pawns,” said spokesman, Stephen McMahon.

Any setback to the NTPF’s work would also have damaging consequences for overall efforts to make inroads into hospital waiting lists. While the initiative is credited with making a substantial reduction in the number of patients waiting a year or longer for treatment, the overall waiting list has proven much harder to chip away.