Women waiting for ob-gyn treatment may have cancer
Sam Coulter-Smith said the situation was “hugely worrying”.
Increased demand on obstetrics had led to a reduction in the hospital’s ability to provide gynaecology services, he said. About 2,000 women are waiting to be seen by a consultant gynaecologist at the hospital.
“Some of them might have a gynaecological cancer. It is hugely worrying,” said Dr Coulter-Smith.
“We do our best to triage those who we think might be at a higher risk of cancer and have their treatment fasttracked.
“However, there was always the fear that a patient thought to be a low risk may have something unexpected.”
Dr Coulter-Smith said a lot had been done to manage the waiting list.
“We have managed to reduce the waiting list significantly but people are still waiting far too long,” he said.
He said patients were waiting around a year for a routine gynaecological outpatient appointment. However, women with fertility problems had to wait event longer for an appointment.
Dr Coulter-Smith said a woman could be trying to have a child for a year before seeking help. She then had to wait a year or more to be seen as an outpatient.
“Women often put off starting their families until later on in their careers so you are dealing with people who are quite stressed,” said Dr Coulter-Smith. “It can be quite a difficult situation.”
He said the increased level of demand for obstetrics had led to a reduction in the hospital’s ability to provide gynaecology services.
There had been no ease in the pressure on the hospital that would have between 25 to 45 deliveries every day.
“There has been a lot of focus on maternity services over the last couple of years,” he said. “I really hope this translates into a desire to improve facilities for our mothers and babies.
He described the need to improve infrastructure and staffing in maternity hospitals as “desperate”.
Dr Coulter-Smith said the Rotunda, an extremely busy hospital with a huge throughput, had little input in the current review of maternity services.
“I’d like to be reassured that the people conducting the review have a full understanding of the issues that we face,” he said.
“I would have thought that for a comprehensive review to take place you would need to have a face to face discussion with those involved at the coalface.”
Dr Coulter-Smith said the Rotunda had several thousand patient interactions every year – 25,000 women attended the hospital’s emergency department every year.
The hospital previously warned about the huge demand for gynaecology outpatient services as population levels rose.
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