Councillors demand action over ‘out of control’ waiting lists

SLIGO County Council is to write to the Minister for Health to “demand that the government take action to address healthcare waiting lists, which have spiralled out of control for far too long”. The action was proposed by Sinn Fein councillor Arthur Gibbons, pictured right, who referred to a recent survey which showed the “devastating impact” of the lengthy waiting lists on people’s health.

He said that out of over 600 people surveyed, 70% indicted that they had been severely impacted by the long waiting lists and that their mental health had been affected.

He added that more than half had experienced depression or anxiety and 45% said it had impacted on the quality of their lives. “There are more than 900,000 on waiting lists. This crisis cannot be allowed to continue any longer,” he said.

Cllr Gibbons said that “far too many people feel that their lives have been devastated while they are on waiting lists”. He said “care delayed is care denied” and said that some of the statistics relating to the affect on people’s lives “make shocking reading”.

“Some people have lost jobs or have had to drop out of college, while some people have felt suicidal,” he said. Seconding, Cllr Gino O’Boyle (People Before Profit) said that the situation was “nothing short of scandalous”. He said it was “intolerable” that this situation had been allowed to develop under successive governments.

Cllr Donal Gilroy said that Cllr Gibbons’s colleague Pearse Doherty had acknowledged that this problem could not be solved overnight. He referred to the Minister for

Health’s success in dealing with the Covid vaccination rollout, which was the most successful in Europe.

The Fianna Fáil councillor said that all political parties were in favour of Slaintecare but he said that there “seems to be resistance within the Department of Health”.

He said that solving waiting lists was going to take a number of years to deliver. However, Independent councillor Declan Bree suggested that there was “no enthusiasm” in Fianna Fail or Fine Gael for the Slaintecare project. He also said that around 97% of Oireachtas members had privte health insurance and “do not understand how other people live”. “They live in a bubble,” he said.