Elderly woman on wait list for eight years contacted by HSE last month

In 2005, a 74-year-old woman in West Clare was put on a list to a see a specialist at the Mid-Western Regional Orthopaedic Hospital in Croom, Co Limerick.

The fingers on her left hand were gnarled and it was impossible for her to unfurl her hand fully. She was suffering from Dupuyten’s contracture, possibly caused by strokes or arthritis and couldn’t cook or take care of her basic needs. Her neighbours had to bring in her dinner and help out in the home.

Last month, her son, Rory O’Shea received a letter from the HSE asking if she still wanted to remain on this waiting list — eight years later.

“The letter asked if she wanted to remain on the list. When I rang the HSE, they explained that they wanted to find out if she had had the procedure privately since or if the issue had been resolved. By that I presume they meant had she died since?” the Dublin-based retired civil servant said.

His mother hadn’t died. She is now resident in a nursing home and has been for several years. Despite the family having a lot of correspondence recently with the HSE, they had used an old address.

“It is unbelievable that any health agency could think that they could treat people like that. I was disgusted at how they were treating people. What I fear is that the people that are being left on those waiting lists for years are the very old people and that literally, they will leave them waiting until they go privately or else die,” Mr O’Shea said.

“I just wonder how many more very elderly people are eight years waiting? And then how many more letters are issued by [the] HSE to incorrect addresses and not answered and so names are taken off the waiting list and can be described as ‘wins’ to hospital management.”

Over 5,600 patients in Limerick are waiting four years or more for an outpatients appointment, shocking figures from the HSE revealed earlier this week.

At the end of February, the Mid-Western Regional Orthopaedic Hospital, Croom, 20km from Limerick city, had 4,148 patients waiting four years or more.

And the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in the city suburbs had another 1,473 patients waiting for an outpatient appointment.

Responding to the figures, HSE West said it aims to have the entire Croom waiting list validated by the end of May and have no patient waiting for an orthopaedic appointment there longer than a year by the end of November.