New data shows current waiting lists may take over a decade to clear - IHCA
Despite lowered Government reduction targets for 2024, waiting lists continue to grow
24,300 people added to three main waiting lists in the first three months of 2024, missing new Government reduction target by over 34,000;- Consultants criticise lack of ambition of Government’s new Action Plan which lowers previous reduction targets of 18% and 10% over past two years to just 6% by end of 2024; less than a 3% reduction was achieved last year;
- Projected cuts in waiting lists dependent on NTPF removing more than 117,000 people without any treatment through ‘validation programme’; 129,000 were removed from the waiting lists in 2023 under same scheme;
- 896,500 people on some form of public hospital waiting list at end of first quarter of 2024; an increase of 313,000 (54%) compared with May 2017 when Sláintecare published;
- Latest €437m Waiting List Plan will not meet targets unless Government addresses public hospital capacity deficits and Consultant vacancies, say IHCA.
- IHCA Vice President Prof Gabrielle Colleran: “The NTPF figures released today confirm Consultants’ grave concerns that these waiting lists may take a decade or more to get under control unless the opening of long-promised additional hospital capacity is fast-tracked by the Government, and simultaneously the one in five Consultant posts vacant or filled on a temporary basis are permanently filled.”
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has today (Friday 12th April 2024) warned that the Government’s Waiting List Action Plan for 2024, launched just over two weeks ago, has already fallen at the first hurdle, just as its previous plans have done over the past two years.
Commenting as the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) released its figures for the end of March, the IHCA said that the three main waiting lists for hospital appointments and treatments have increased by 24,300 (4%) in the first three months of 2024 alone.1 This is compared with an expected pro rata target reduction of 9,800 people by the end of March, giving a shortfall already of over 34,000.
The €437 million Action Plan for 20242 has set a target to reduce waiting lists for outpatient appointments and inpatient and day case treatment and procedures by 39,300 (6%) by the end of December compared with the number waiting at the start of the year. Similar Action Plans in 2022 and 2023 had set ambitious reduction targets of 18% and 10%, but only cut waiting lists by 4% and 3% respectively.
The modest decrease last year was only achieved by removing more than 129,000 people from the waiting lists without any treatment through an NTPF ‘validation programme’.3 This year’s projected cuts in waiting lists are again dependent on the NTPF removing more than 117,000 people without any treatment under the same administrative scheme.
Over 896,500 people were on some form of NTPF waiting list at the end of the first quarter, including numerous less publicised pre-admit, planned procedure and suspension lists, which collectively total over 200,000 for the very first time. The total number of people currently on waiting lists is an increase of almost 313,000 (54%) compared with May 2017 when Sláintecare was published.
Commenting on today’s NTPF figures, IHCA Vice President Professor Gabrielle Colleran said:
“The 2024 Waiting List Action Plan published by the Department of Health just two weeks ago has already fallen at the first hurdle, as did the two previous plans in 2022 and 2023. While we welcome any funding which aims to cut these unacceptably long waiting lists and allow patients access to the care they require, perhaps it is time the Government takes a different approach, if it is doing the same thing over and over again and still expecting to get different results.
“The NTPF figures released today confirm Consultants’ grave concerns that these waiting lists may take a decade or more to get under control unless the opening of long-promised additional hospital capacity is fast-tracked by the Government, and simultaneously the one in five Consultant posts vacant or filled on a temporary basis are permanently filled.
“Unfortunately, we are not confident that any of the 19 actions listed in the Government’s new Waiting List Plan – itself a reduction from the 30 actions listed last year – will adequately address the fundamental issue of the overwhelming shortage of acute hospital beds, outpatient facilities, theatres, diagnostics and other frontline resources required to bring these unacceptable waiting lists down.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. Analysis based on latest NTFP data as at end of March 2024: https://www.ntpf.ie/home/nwld.htm
2. The 2024 Waiting List Action Plan allocates €360m to reducing hospital waiting lists and an additional €77m for various community and primary care waiting list initiatives: https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/289019/28c3240b-66bb-415b-9d5a-37b57eae7cd1.pdf#page=null
3. Dáil PQ response from Minister Stephen Donnelly to Deputy David Cullinane, 27 February 2024: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2024-02-27/510/
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