Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
NI’S WAITING LIST SHAME:
» 307,000 face delays over first appointment » Minister warns figures will get even worse
AROUND 637,000 patients in Northern Ireland are on hospital waiting lists, latest figures show.
The Department of Health revealed more than 307,000 people were still waiting for their first appointment with a consultant by the end of March. And nearly 80%, in excess of 240,000, have faced delays exceeding the Government’s nine-week target.
The figures also showed almost 120,000 have been waiting for more than a year.
A total of 637,577 patients on waiting lists and 408,012 test results are noted in the statistics.
Health Minister Robin Swann warned the figures could get worse due to Covid-19 pandemic.
He said: “The onslaught of coronavirus is something we could never have contemplated when we started the transformation of health and social care.
“The truth is today’s statistics only cover the position to the end of March, so simply provide an early indication of the full impact of the virus on waiting times.
“I need to be very honest and signal the figures for the next quarter will make even more depressing reading.”
The statistics, which reflect the position on March 31, eight days after the lockdown was put in place, showed none of the targets for patient waiting, testing or results are being met. Every one of the 408,012 patients waiting for urgent diagnositic tests can expect to have it reported on within two days.
But despite the system dealing with 14,971 fewer requests than in the previous quarter, only 62,970 got their results within the targeted timeframe.
Diagnostic services are also under extreme pressure with 131,040 patients on the waiting list. Patients should expect to wait no longer than 26 weeks and 75% of patients should be dealt with within nine weeks.
However, 55.1% or 72,248 people have been waiting longer than nine weeks for a diagnostic test.
And 27.3% or 35,784 patients faced delays of more than 26 weeks.
The statistics also showed outpatient waiting times are also in crisis.
Ministerial targets relating for 2019/20 outpatients state at least 50% should wait no longer than nine weeks for a first appointment – and no one
should wait longer than 52 weeks. The statistics also showed:
■ 38% or 117,066 patients have waited more than a year for a first consultantled outpatient appointment
■ 93,641 patients are waiting to be admitted to hospitals in Northern Ireland
■ 11,906 or 10% fewer people attended a first outpatient appointment when compared to the previous year, and
■ 1,503 patients are waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment at a Regional Assessment and Surgical Centre for cataract treatment.
Mr Swann said the results were “very disappointing” and there can be no “quick fix”.
He added: “No one has been in any doubt that performance in this area has been under intense pressure for some time, although steps were being taken to build capacity whilst implementing new innovative ways of working.
“But, just as there was no doubt about the scale of the challenge before coronavirus, equally no one can be in any doubt a quick fix is simply not realistic. Successfully attacking these waiting times will take time and money, and can only be achieved if additional long-term funding is made available – such funding must be over and above that needed to run existing services.
“Even with significant additional investment, the task of putting this right will be immensely challenging. For the foreseeable future, we will have to plan around the continuing threat posed by Covid-19. This will severely constrain the capacity of our hospitals to scale up activity – social distancing in hospitals means reduced numbers in waiting rooms and on theatre lists.”
Mr Swann added officials have started the process of rebuilding the health and social care system rather than “restoring”.
He said: “The truth is our health service will never be the same again.
“The way we use services will have to change and innovations like virtual clinics will increasingly become the norm.
“For those who think or call for a return to where we were at the start of January, I simply say we cannot go there. The system was broken and struggling then so simply returning to the same place would be a disservice not just to those who are waiting but to all those who have worked so hard in the last few weeks.”