{"id":25112,"date":"2022-02-16T12:21:25","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T17:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=25112"},"modified":"2022-02-16T12:21:28","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T17:21:28","slug":"no-short-term-fix-as-hospital-waiting-lists-jump-by-18-per-cent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=25112","title":{"rendered":"No Short-Term Fix As Hospital Waiting Lists Jump By 18 Per Cent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Government is hoping to set out a plan next week to address the waiting lists issue (PA Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Outpatient waiting lists jumped by 98,000 (18 per cent) while day cases rose by 9,000 and endoscopy waiting lists grew by 10,000 (47 per cent) during the pandemic, the health committee has heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The head of the HSE, Paul Reid, said demand continues to exceed capacity in many specialist areas, telling the Oireachtas health committee that he accepts patients are waiting too long to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid and Robert Watt, secretary general of the Department of Health, both appeared to discuss the Sl\u00e1intecare reform program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Watt said the Government hopes to set out a plan next week to address waiting lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat will set out a variety of actions to buy more private sector capacity to drive more public sector output, to change the way we are working to increase the overall level of activity,\u201d Mr Watt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hope, this year, to have the highest level of waiting list-related activity delivered by the HSE, the public and private system, we have ever had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven with that, we are still going to have a large number of people waiting at the end of the year and some of those have been waiting too long and that represents a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter this year, the challenge is to do even better in 2023 and make improvements and that will involve more resources and more capacity and different ways of working.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid said there is not an immediate short-term fix for waiting lists but said it is a priority of the health service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe waiting lists most definitely is one of the priorities. We do over 3.4 million procedures a year but we do have about 800,000 or so of waiting lists and some of those people have been waiting far too long,\u201d Mr Reid added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe took a joint approach looking at all health delivery, but I want to be honest it is not a short-term fix.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid also admitted there are difficulties in some areas with recruitment, particularly in south Kerry and Donegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes after the Sunday Business Post reported comments claimed to have been made by officials at the Department of Health at a meeting on January 27th to discuss the health budget oversight group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The officials were reported to have said that \u201cfake targets\u201d of hiring staff were published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Reid said: \u201cOver the past two years we have recruited over 35,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to recruit 9,500 people every year to stand still and we have 132,000 people now in the HSE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a net increase of 12,500, the biggest increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had a further 4,000 people on testing and tracing programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have difficulties in some areas, particularly in south Kerry and Donegal, and that is an issue for us in recruitment of specialists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are seeing professional consultants want to move to the big urban centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a quality of life we are trying to promote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Watt said it will be \u201cvery challenging\u201d to reach that target of recruiting 10,000 staff this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe service plan is based on 10,000 and for the moment that money is allocated for health during the year,\u201d Mr Watt added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf it transpires that we are not in a position and the judgment call is ultimately that we can\u2019t meet that target, then the minister can give a direction to Paul and his team about reallocating that money.\u201d<\/p>\n

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