GP claims hospital referral letters are unopened to avoid wait list fines

A LEADING north-east GP has claimed patient referral letters are being left unopened across the country to help hospitals avoid waiting list-related fines.

Reacting to the news that thousands of referral letters failed to be opened at Tallaght Hospital, Dr Illona Duffy said the situation is being mirrored in facilities across Ireland.

Highlighting a specific case in 2007, the GP said she contacted Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda on two occasions asking for an adult orthopaedic patient she was treating to be seen.

However, after no response was received for a month, Dr Duffy contacted the hospital and was told the letter had been placed unopened in an administrative box because hospital staff were attempting to keep waiting lists levels and numbers down.

“There are unopened GP referral letters there, they are unopened because the hospitals want to keep waiting lists in line with HSE targets to avoid financial penalties, and it just highlights the dysfunction in the system,” she said.

“It’s not just Tallaght, it is the whole system.

“The big questions in this issue are why are hospitals under such pressure to perform, what impact is that having on patients, and are they under policy orders not to open referral letters to stay within HSE targets?” the GP added.

In a statement responding to the claims, a HSE spokesperson denied that GP referral letters were left unopened, adding that there is no policy in place allowing for such a move.

Des O’Flynn, the HSE’s general manager for the Louth/Meath hospital group, said that orthopaedic patients were no longer being treated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, but that a “small delay” in 2007 occurred when a consultant paediatrician retired.

“Approximately two years ago when one of the consultants retired as a paediatric orthopaedic consultant there was a gap of six-to-eight weeks before the new consultant was in place.”

Dr Duffy rejected the explanation, stating that the patient she referred was an adult and as such would not have been referred at any time to the consultant paediatrician.