Woman gets eye appointment 25 years after she died

ON the 25th anniversary of her mother’s death the last thing an 80-year-old Tuam woman expected was to get a letter notifying her mother of a medical exam.

The woman said she was shocked to find a letter containing details of an eye clinic appointment for her dead mother among her Christmas post this week.

“When I opened the letter I was shocked to see that my late mother had received an appointment for her eyesight test for Monday, March 27, 2006,” she said.

The appointment was for a clinic at University College Hospital, Galway.

The daughter of the woman named in the letter added that it was even more upsetting that the day she got the letter coincided with the date on which her mother had died aged 84.

The local postman, who knows everybody on his route for the past 20 years, had never heard of the person named on the address on the letter.

But after intensive enquiries he took it to the woman he thought might be the lady’s daughter.

Local Fine Gael TD Paul Connaughton said there has always been considerable controversy regarding the accuracy of waiting lists in the health service.

However, he thought it was doubtful if anyone else anywhere in Ireland could get such an out of date appointment for ophthalmology services.

The letter also states: “If you are unable to attend, please return this letter promptly and state if you require another appointment.”

“I have no great recollection of my late mother having an appointment for her eyesight before her death in 1980. But I do remember her attending the health clinic in Tuam some years before she passed away,” said her daughter.

Mr Connaughton said such instances show many waiting lists are not current despite talk about the reliability of computer records.

“It should be possible to have such files cleared out and names of deceased people deleted from the record without much trouble,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Health Services Executive (Western Area) said: “University College Hospital Galway apologise to the family for any distress caused in this matter. UCHG have reviewed our process and are taking action to ensure such an error cannot occur again.”