Rheumatology waiting list increases

The number of children waiting more than 12 months to see a consultant paediatric rheumatologist jumped 80% in a single year, against a backdrop of Government inactivity implementing a plan to improve patient care.

Launching its #SeeMe awareness campaign as part of National Arthritis Week, Arthritis Ireland said 902 young people were on the rheumatology outpatient waiting list at the end of January 2018, a 33% increase on the previous year.

Of these, the number of long waiters had grown exponentially — 543 were waiting more than 12 months, up from 302 in January 2017. Among them are children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) a chronic, potentially crippling disease, from which remission is possible with early treatment.