Numbers waiting three months for bowel cancer test up 30%

THERE are worrying signs that waiting times for bowel cancer tests are starting to creep up again, the Irish Cancer Society said yesterday.

It found that the number of people waiting more than three months for a colonoscopy increased by 30% since September.

Earlier this year, Health Minister Mary Harney declared that all urgent colonoscopies would be performed within a month.

“I am satisfied that, by the end of this year, urgent cases will be seen within a month,” Ms Harney said last April.

Kilkenny woman Susie Long, who waited seven months for a colonoscopy, died in October 2007.

Information supplied by hospitals to the National Treatment Purchase Fund show that 852 people are now waiting three months for the test, an increase of 189 since its September figures were published.

The number of patients waiting more than three months for the test in the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick has tripled from 23 in September to 72 in November.

And the number of patients waiting more than three months for the test in Tallaght Hospital in Dublin has almost doubled from 90 to 177.

There are 75 patients waiting more than three months in University Hospital Galway, compared to 46 in September, an increase of just over 60%

And 136 patients are waiting more than three months for a colonoscopy in the Mercy University Hospital in Cork, compared to 98 in September, an increase of almost 40%.

Improvements have been made in some hospitals to reduce the number of patients waiting more than three months for the test.

Kerry General Hospital reduced its waiting list by 75% and has 10 patients waiting more than three months since September.

Both Naas General Hospital and St James’s Hospital in Dublin have cleared their waiting lists completely and Mullingar Hospital has reduced its waiting list by 65%.

ICS spokeswoman Kathleen O’Meara said the society welcomed the progress made by hospitals but was worried about the size of the slippage that had occurred during the last two months.

Since the Irish Cancer Society started highlighting the long waiting times for colonoscopies a year ago, the number of patients waiting more than three months for the test had dropped from 1,919 down to 852.

“With more than half of patients with bowel cancer being diagnosed late, it is clear that a bowel cancer screening programme is urgently needed and that is why the society has offered €1 million to the Government towards the cost of the roll -out, if it is rolled out immediately,” she said.

- Anyone concerned about bowel or other cancer can call the National Cancer Helpline on freefone 1800 200 700 or visit www.cancer.ie.