More than 21,700 people waiting to see respiratory consultants

Rebecca Houlihan, Portlaoise, suffers with Brittle Asthma.

Waiting lists for children with respiratory conditions have shot up during the pandemic, according to the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA).

Respiratory consultant at University Hospital Limerick Dr Aidan O’Brien, called for an urgent improvement in access to treatment for all ages, but especially younger sufferers.

One young woman with severe asthma must travel from Portlaoise to Dublin for treatment even though she is cocooning.

The IHCA research shows more than 21,700 people waiting to see a respiratory consultant, up 7% since start of the year and the paediatric respiratory inpatient and day case waiting list is up 39% this year.

Dr O’Brien said Covid-19 is having a direct and indirect negative impact on provision of respiratory disease care to patients.

He would like to see a new long-term strategy running across community healthcare and the hospitals.

“This should include better resourcing of dedicated respiratory units in each of our acute hospitals, where congestion is occurring,” he said.

Ireland has just 3.3 specialists in respiratory medicine per 100,000 population compared to an EU average of five. This often leaves patients in more rural areas travelling long distances for treatment as even many smaller hospitals lack these specialist staff.

Asthma is a common illness in Ireland with a rate of 49.6 per 100,000 in the general population. Another respiratory illness COPD is the single most common reason for hospital emergency admissions.

Rebecca Houlihan, 20, has been cocooning since late February on doctor’s advice to avoid catching Covid-19. She has brittle asthma which is a severe form of this respiratory disease and frequently needs to attend her local hospital in Portlaoise for emergency treatment.

Unfortunately, there is no access to regular care for her illness in the region. She must travel to St James's Hospital in Dublin.

She changed her college course so she could study only online but still had to go to Dublin up to four times a month during the pandemic.

Ms Houlihan said: “I used to go to Dublin on the train, but now with Covid that’s not possible. I have to be driven up, so my aunt is taking a day off work to bring me.”

The young student attends two regular clinics and says the staff at St James's are very welcoming. But spending over two hours in the car is exhausting.

“There is a respiratory nurse in Portlaoise who I can call, she is very good. But my team, all the doctors are in Dublin.” 

Ms Houliahan would much prefer local treatment if that was available. “It is nerve-wracking at the moment, driving up there in a pandemic. I get very anxious,” she explained.