Patients in East top waiting lists

ALMOST 80% of people still waiting more than 12 months for hospital treatment are based in the East.

Up to the end of June this year, 4,641 adults in the region were waiting 12 months to two years, and almost 55% were waiting for more than two years for treatment.

"I find it difficult to understand why some of the hospitals in the eastern region are not having the same rate of referrals to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) as the rest of the country," said Stephen McMahon of the Irish Patients' Association.

A breakdown of the figures also shows that a substantial number of long waiters were listed for surgery at St Vincent's Hospital (1,287), Tallaght Hospital (670) and the Mater Hospital (1,022).

Mr McMahon is also concerned that the number of long waiters those waiting for 12 months or more was still substantial in the eastern region of the country at a time when the NTPF was being used to treat adults waiting over six months in other areas.

Mr McMahon said all of the long waiters in the eastern region should be given an opportunity to be treated under the fund and a record kept of those who don't wish to be involved in the scheme.

"While the NTPF is doing a good job, we cannot lose sight of the fact that our acute hospital system must have sufficient funds to have the beds available for patients when they are sick," he said.

Mr McMahon also believes that long waiters should be automatically referred to the fund without the need to have to go through their consultant.

Pat O'Byrne, chief executive of the NTPF, said they had paid €6.09 million to public hospitals and €12.52 million to private hospitals in the Republic up to the end of September, the most up-to-date figures available.

He said the NTPF's remit was to deal with the longest waiters one person they had dealt with had been waiting eight years for treatment, but the average was three to five years.

While they mainly dealt with private hospitals, they also utilised spare capacity in the public hospitals where and when it became available.

He insisted, however, that the fund did not want patients to be treated in beds that had been closed due to cutbacks.

"The NTPF was never intended to solve all the problems of the health service. Out budget of €31 million for the current year out of €9 billion for the health service generally is minuscule.

"It is, however, there to deal with a specific problem, and the results are there for people to see," he said.

The fund has been used to treat over 8,000 people.

"These people were left on waiting lists during the good times as well as the bad," said Mr O'Byrne.