Years of underinvestment and Consultant staffing crisis leaving potentially thousands at risk of dying on waiting lists
Shocking figure of 7,600 deaths last year in Northern Ireland likely to be replicated for those on hospital waiting lists in Republic, warn Consultants
907,000 people on some form of NTPF waiting list, up almost 75,000 (9%) since July 2020;- Waiting list crisis long predates pandemic, with 267,000 people added to outpatient waiting lists since 2014 – a 74% increase;
- Significant 65-fold increase in the number of patients waiting longer than a year for inpatient or day case treatment over the past decade;
- Long waiting lists a direct result of Consultant recruitment and retention crisis and years of underinvestment in capacity.
IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine: “Irish patients are not getting the hospital treatment that they need. Many thousands are being added to an ever-increasing waiting list for assessment and treatment, which is leading to poorer outcomes. This is unfortunate and unacceptable. The shocking figures revealed this week in Northern Ireland – which has half the number of patients waiting for an outpatient appointment compared with the Republic – shows that in many cases, patients died while awaiting treatment.”
Thousands of people on Irish hospital waiting lists risk dying while waiting for essential assessment and treatment, given new shocking figures from the health service in Northern Ireland, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has warned.
A report this week on deaths in the five health trusts in Northern Ireland found that 17,000 people had died while on a waiting list over the past three years – with 7,600 deaths occurring in 2021 alone.1
Similar mortality figures to those in Northern Ireland may be replicated here in the Republic. While the assumption cannot be made that all these deaths are directly linked with excessive wait times for treatment, the IHCA said it is clear that thousands of patients in the Republic are also waiting ‘unacceptably long’ for hospital care and are suffering poorer outcomes as a result.
The latest National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) figures released today (Friday, 12 August 2022) show that the total number of people on waiting lists for hospital treatment or assessment by a Consultant has exceeded 900,000 for the third month in a row.2
More than 907,000 people were on a waiting list for hospital appointments or treatment at the end of July, an increase of 74,800 (9%) more people waiting for care compared with July 2020.
The total figure of 907,331 includes the three main waiting lists: 627,856 awaiting an outpatient appointment, 79,588 patients waiting for inpatient or day case treatment and a further 27,100 awaiting a gastrointestinal (GI) scope. With an additional 172,700 on various additional pre-admit, planned and suspension lists, and 236,000 people awaiting diagnostic scans3 not on any NTPF list, well over a million people are currently waiting for public hospital services.
A backlog of care postponed during the pandemic has forced patients with other illnesses to wait much longer than usual for surgery or treatment. However, the IHCA said these record waiting lists existed long before Covid, and that the impact of the pandemic has been to exacerbate an already very significant problem. Since July 2014, more than 267,000 people have been added to the outpatient waiting lists at hospitals across the country – a 74% increase.
The number of patients waiting longer than a year for inpatient/day case treatment has also increased significantly over the past decade, from just 232 in July 2012 to 15,125 in July 2022 – a 65-fold increase.
Commenting on today’s waiting lists, IHCA President Professor Alan Irvine, said:
“Irish patients are not getting the hospital treatment that they need. Many thousands are being added to an ever-increasing waiting list for assessment or treatment, which is leading to poorer outcomes. This is unfortunate and unacceptable.
“Behind every statistic is a person and a family seeking healthcare, often while experiencing pain, suffering and the psychological distress at not knowing when they will be able to receive treatment. Sadly, this can also be a matter of life and death.
“The shocking figures revealed this week in Northern Ireland – which has half the number of patients waiting for an outpatient appointment compared with the Republic – shows that in many cases, patients died while awaiting treatment.
“While it may be difficult to establish how many deaths may be directly caused by delays in receiving care while on waiting lists, at a minimum this should be a wake-up call to Government to urgently address the twin deficits of a shortage of Consultants and a lack of sufficient public hospital capacity to resolve the record waiting lists we continue to experience.
“Without addressing the shortage of Consultants, hospital beds, theatres, diagnostic and other facilities, the Government will not address the core problems facing our public hospitals. In particular, it is imperative that the 882 approved Consultant posts that are vacant or filled on a temporary, locum or agency basis are filled as needed with permanent appointees if we are to effectively address the record public hospital waiting lists.4
“To solve the recruitment and retention crisis, the Government needs to end the pay discrimination imposed on Consultants contracted since 2012 to recruit and retain the increased number of hospital Consultants required to provide timely care to patients.”
ENDS
Notes:
1. Data obtained by the Belfast Telegraph via a Freedom of Information request to the five Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trusts: ‘17,000 die while languishing on waiting lists over last three years’, Belfast Telegraph, 8 August 2022, https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/17000-die-while-languishing-on-waiting-lists-over-last-three-years-41895879.html
2. Latest NTFP data as at end of July 2022: https://www.ntpf.ie/home/nwld.htm
3. PQ Response from Minister Stephen Donnelly to Deputy David Cullinane, 26 April 2022: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2022-04-26/1354/?highlight%5B0%5D=diagnostic
4. HSE PQ response to Deputy Paul Kehoe, 11 May 2022: https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/personalpq/pq/2022-pq-responses/april-2022/pq-19432-22-paul-kehoe.pdf
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