Long waiting lists causing stress among patients, group claims
The situation was also costing the State more in GP bills as patients became more ill while waiting for their first consultation.
Stephen McMahon of the Irish Patient's Association (IPA) said the Department of Health should find out exactly how many patients were waiting for their first consultation.
Mr McMahon said: "The Department of Health should have a clear indicator as to what the future demand will be on the country's hospitals."
Currently, a person has to be on the waiting list for three months before they are defined as being 'officially' on the waiting list.
Dr Liam Twomey, a GP and an independent TD for Wexford, said patients in the south east were having to wait seven years to see a specialist a situation probably reflected in other health boards across the country.
Dr Twomey said it was common knowledge that certain waiting lists for specialists were very long. Doctors were having to anticipate how long patients would be on a list for a particular procedure when making referrals.
"We refer patients showing any signs of arthritis on an x-ray because we know it is going to take four or five years before they see the consultant and it will take another year before they have an operation."
Dr Twomey said most of the services with the longest waiting times were in so-called regional centres of excellence that would need massive funding if they were to take on the workloads of regional hospitals.
He believed funding would have to be sustained at a very high level to make up for the current deficit in the system.
Meanwhile, a consultant radiologist at St Luke's Hospital in Dublin, Dr Ian FraiserOK, warned people in the south -east not to abandon their campaign for radiotherapy services in the region.
Speaking on a local radio station WLR FM yesterday, Dr FraiserOK said the campaign's argument was rock solid it was based on people, economics and the realities of life. "Just to give up when there is a whiff of defeat in the air is a very defeatist attitude," he said.
It was currently costing €1.8m to bring people from the south-east to Dublin for their treatment. "The cost of a unit is €8.5m. This is a cost benefit investment that will save a lot of money," he insisted.
