153,000 increase in waiting list to see a consultant since Government first took office

• 153,000 patients added to the outpatient waiting list, which is a 37% increase since May 2016

• Since the start of the year more than 52,600 additional patients have joined hospital outpatient waiting lists

• No significant action taken in Health Budget 2020 to end record numbers waiting, as outpatient waiting list remains at near record high

• Promised talks between Minister Harris and IHCA to end crisis must start immediately

Dr Donal O’Hanlon, IHCA President said: “After more than three years in office, the Government and Minister for Health Simon Harris has presided over an unacceptable increase of 153,000 additional patients on the outpatient waiting list. This amounts to a 37% increase the Government first took office in May 2016. To put an end to this crisis, Minister Harris must restore parity to fill the large number of permanent consultant posts that are unfilled."

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has called on the Minister for Health to urgently address the consultant recruitment and retention crisis in order to tackle the ever-increasing hospital waiting lists.

Since the current Government took office in May 2016, it has presided over the addition of 153,185 patients to the outpatient waiting list, which is a 37% increase.

Dr Donal O’Hanlon, IHCA President, said that while the outpatient waiting list fell very slightly last month, the decline of just 729 patients in today’s NTPF data from the record high seen in August is insufficient and is little comfort to the 568,769 people who were awaiting a hospital outpatient appointment at the end of September.

This is an increase of 53,222 (10.3%) since the start of 2019. This amounts to an average of more than 5,900 additional patients each month since the start of the year.

The number waiting over 12 months for an outpatient appointment is at a record high of 178,507 and has increased by 25,567 (16.7%) since the start of 2019.

In the past five years alone, the numbers waiting have increased by 196,940 (53%). The increase has occurred at a time when there are more than 500 permanent consultant posts that cannot be filled because of the Government’s discriminatory policy, which is driving the highly trained specialists abroad that public hospitals need.

The inpatients waiting are also unacceptable at 67,985, up 19.5% in 5 years.

Dr Donal O’Hanlon, IHCA President said: “After more than three years in office, the Government and Minister for Health Simon Harris has presided over an unacceptable increase of 153,000 additional patients on the outpatient waiting list. This amounts to a 37% increase the Government first took office in May 2016. To put an end to this crisis, Minister Harris must restore parity to fill the large number of permanent consultant posts that are unfilled.

“The new entrant salary inequity is the root cause of Ireland’s consultant recruitment and retention crisis and the unacceptable numbers of people on record waiting lists which are now the longest in Europe. The Government’s failure to address the crisis is destroying the basic fabric of our public hospital and mental health services.”

Access to and the delivery of care for public patients across our acute hospitals have been characterised, in recent weeks and ahead of the Winter surge, by record numbers of patients being treated on trolleys, unacceptably long waits in Emergency Departments particularly for vulnerable elderly patients and increasing numbers of patients – now at one million – waiting many months and years to access care.

September was also the worst month so far in 2019 and the worst September on record for hospital overcrowding, with 10,641 patients on trolleys in Emergency Departments or on wards awaiting admission to a hospital bed. This is a 39% increase over the past three years, compared with September 2016 figures.

Dr O’Hanlon said that nothing in the Health Budget would help to reduce these record patient waiting lists, and described the additional funding for the National Treatment Purchase Fund as just a shot-term ‘sticking plaster’ rather than a log-term solution.

“The decision to allocate an additional €25 million to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, which previous experience has shown, is a short-term measure which does not solve the long-term hospital access problems facing public patients. This money should be used to properly resource our public hospitals. Our health system is in crisis, and this sticking plaster is not the answer.

“The consultant recruitment and retention crisis, with one in five permanent consultant posts now unfilled, is the key factor in the long wait times patients face and must be addressed by Government.”

Ends

Contact:

Amanda Glancy, PR360, 087 2273108 and 01 637 1777

Barry Murphy, PR360, 087 2669878 and 01 637 1777