Integrated hospital waiting-list system would solve crisis, says Sinn Féin

Ireland’s record-breaking hospital waiting-list crisis could be solved by imposing a single waiting-list system, to sends patients to hospitals with space available rather than the nearest.

Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly put forward the plan yesterday as she called Health Minister Simon Harris’s five-point plan to tackle the scandal as little more than “re-packaging” previously failed policies.

Speaking at Leinster House, the former health worker claimed Ireland’s 530,000-strong waiting list could be significantly reduced if the system was replaced with a model used in Portugal.