HSE criticised over ‘hidden’ waiting lists
The calls came as it emerged more than 27,000 people awaiting vital diagnostic tests at a single hospital are not appearing in official figures, meaning there may be far more than the near-390,000 people awaiting some form of outpatient appointment.
However, despite the fact the records — which were until recently publicly available — are no longer being published, Health Minister Leo Varadkar claimed no one is hiding them as they were provided when asked.
And in a further defence of his bid to reform the system, he claimed “a row over statistics misses the point”.
Details revealed at the weekend show that despite attempts by the HSE to highlight the full extent of hospital waiting lists across the country, tens of thousands of people are not being counted among official figures.
The patients, who are waiting for potentially life-saving diagnostic tests for illnesses such as heart disease, are in some cases seeing their care delayed by up to two years, with doctors saying they regularly advise people to seek the help privately.
While the diagnostic delay figures were until recently published by the HSE’s HealthStat system, this is no longer taking place.
However, records for the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick show as many as 27,000 people are awaiting potentially vital MRI scans at that facility — despite not turning up on official waiting lists.
The issue has re-focused attention on whether hospitals are manipulating figures in order to achieve target times for no patients to be waiting over a year for outpatient care — rates that are failing to be met — as this will help ensure budgets are not cut.
The issue was raised a year ago when there was a sudden improvement in the number of people waiting last December — when budgets were being calculated — before rates quickly rose again from just over 300,000 at the start of 2014 to almost 390,000 today.
A HSE spokesperson said the service will start publishing diagnostic waiting times again from next month after addressing “inaccuracies”.
Health Minister Leo Varadkar moved to assuage concerns, saying he has “no interest in making things look better” than they are.
“Clearly, there was no attempt to conceal this information. It is also important to bear in mind that many people waiting for a scan are also waiting for a hospital appointment or surgical procedure.
“Rather than under-estimating, it’s often the case the same people are counted several times,” he said.
However, doctors, patients and opposition TDs were united in their anger over the situation.
“The scale of these delays is extremely alarming, but what is worse is the extent of the problem is being concealed,” said Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Billy Kelleher, while Sinn Féin counterpart Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said it is time the HSE “comes clean”.
Rival doctors groups the Irish Medical Organisation and the National Association of General Practitioners described the problem as “a farce” that would not be tolerated abroad, while the Irish Patients Association noted previous HSE promises to provide full information have yet to occur.
