Out-patient referral wait times criticised

LONG waiting times of up to five years for referral to hospital out-patient services are unacceptable and unsafe, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has said.

The state’s watchdog on health wants faster and safer GP to consultant referrals, with waiting times of less than 90 days.

The authority has described management of patient referrals as poor, with anecdotal evidence suggesting it could be up to four or five years in some cases.

More than 3.3 million people are seen at consultant-led out-patient clinics every year, of which around 900,000 are first-time appointments.

HIQA has published a report containing 26 recommendations targeted at the Health Service Executive, GPs and hospitals to make the referral system faster and safer.

It says the situation could be dramatically improved with changes to procedures and practices that do not involve significant expense.

HIQA had intended doing a detailed analysis of patient referrals but quickly realised that the data was unavailable.

“Data is of poor quality and is not standardised. Waiting lists are incomplete and inaccurate and the information is not up to date,” it says.

HIQA, together with the Irish College of General Practitioners, has also developed a patient referral template.

Health Minister, Dr James Reilly, who welcomed the report, said he would consider mandating the proposed national standard for patient referral information when it was piloted by the Health Service Executive.

At present, there is no national agreement on the information that should be included in referral letters sent from GP’s to hospitals.

HIQA’s director of health information, Prof Jane Grimson, said the report would be crucial in kick-starting the Special Delivery Unit (SDU) that has been tasked with cutting hospital waiting lists and waiting times.

Prof Grimson said the head of the SDU, Dr Martin Connor was due to report back Minister Reilly in September and hoped to see action being taken soon.

She also said that HIQA have the HSE to publish an action plan with clear timelines on implementing the report’s recommendations.

* www.hiqa.ie.