News
21st April 2022
Statement by the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) on the South Kerry CAMHS Review and Compensation Scheme
Commenting, the President of the IHCA, Professor Alan Irvine said:
14th April 2022
Worsening waiting list crisis revealed as child waiting lists top 100,000 for first time
1 in 12 children are now on some form of hospital waiting list across the country as Consultant vacancies increase, says IHCA
Record 100,089 children now on some form of NTPF waiting list; more than 1 in 3 (34,300) waiting longer than a year for treatment or assessment by a Hospital Consultant;
Additional 8,300 children awaiting diagnostic scans at three Dublin children’s hospitals not included in NTPF waiting lists;
Almost 1 in 5 Consultant Paediatric posts are vacant or filled on a temporary basis;
Stalled Consultant contract talks must be reconvened with replacement Independent Chair to address Consultant recruitment crisis and bring waiting lists down.
IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine: “For the first time, the monthly NTPF figures have recorded over 100,000 children on waiting lists for hospital care, with more than one in three of these children waiting longer than a year to be treated or assessed by a Consultant. This trend is worrying and is resulting in thousands of children not getting the care they need in a timely way, and the real possibility that they will suffer health and developmental issues that could have been reversed or mitigated against if only they were seen in time.”
12th April 2022
148,000 people waiting for hospital care in Cork and South/South-West hospitals as lists continue to soar
1 in 7 of the local population on outpatient waiting lists in Cork hospitals alone with wait time targets set for end of 2022 unlikely to be met, say Consultants
148,000 people waiting for hospital treatment in the South/South-West Hospital Group — an increase of 45% or 45,800 additional people in seven years;
Consultant recruitment crisis in the region evident as 30% of completed competitions for Consultant posts that failed to be filled in 2021 were for posts in the South/South-West Hospital Group;
Local politicians raise concerns with Department of Health and HSE as agreed replacement Independent Chair for stalled Consultant contract talks not yet appointed.
IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine: “The severe shortage of hospital Consultants in our public health service in Cork and the southern region is the main contributor to the unacceptable delays in providing care to patients. These growing waiting lists demonstrate the impact of years of Consultant shortages and underinvestment in capacity across public hospitals in the region, which must be addressed in discussions with the IHCA.”
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has today (12th April 2022) warned that failure to ensure competitiveness in recruiting and retaining consultants and to appoint a replacement Independent Chair for stalled contract talks is hampering recruitment efforts in the South/South-West region and restricting patients from accessing essential timely, high-quality medical and surgical care.
There were over 148,000 people waiting for inpatient or day case treatment, outpatient appointments or GI (Gastrointestinal) scopes in the South/South West Hospital Group (SSWHG)* at the end of February — an increase of 45% or 45,800 additional people in seven years.
Almost 133,000 people are waiting to be assessed by a hospital Consultant in the region, with 57% (76,000) of these on outpatient waiting lists in Cork hospital. This is 1 in 7 of the entire population of Cork County and a 38% increase (+21,000) since 2015.**
Patients waiting longer for care
The Government’s Waiting List Action Plan released in February pledged that by the end of 2022 almost all patients (98%) will receive their inpatient/day case procedure within 12 months of being placed on the waiting list, and their first outpatient appointment within 18 months.
However, hospitals in the South of the country have 38,400 people currently waiting in excess of the Waiting List targets set for the end of 2022. The specialties of Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, ENT, Pain Relief, Dermatology and Neurosurgery have some of the largest number of people waiting 18 months or longer for assessment by a Consultant.***
25th March 2022
Extra caution needed to protect public and hospitals from latest Covid wave
Cancelling essential scheduled surgeries, diagnostic investigations, and outpatient appointments cannot be the go-to solution to hospital capacity deficits
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has today (25 March 2022) urged the public to use a higher degree of caution over the coming weeks given the widespread community transmission of the coronavirus and the resulting increase in hospitalisations.
21st March 2022
New data reveals worsening hospital staffing crisis as 837 Consultant posts now remain unfilled
New data analysis shows number of unfilled consultant posts rises to 837 – an increase of 15% in less than a year;
More than a fifth (22%) of all consultant posts are now vacant or filled on a temporary basis;
Number of vacant Consultant posts has increased by a quarter in less than a year; temporary/locum posts have increased by a fifth;
896,600 people on some form of public hospital waiting list; over 99,000 of these are children;
Consultants call for the immediate appointment of an agreed Independent Chair to allow for the urgent resumption of contract talks and the reversal of the Government’s 2012 Consultant pay discrimination.
IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine: “The fact that now over 800 posts cannot be filled as needed is an unequivocal signal to Government and health service management that the current conditions in Ireland’s system do not create an environment that skilled medical and surgical specialists want to work in...as a result, Irish patients are not getting the hospital and mental health treatment that they need.”
11th March 2022
Government waiting list action plan ‘falls at first hurdle’, says IHCA
896,600 people on some form of public hospital waiting list; over 99,000 of these are children;
12,800 people added to three main waiting lists in the first two months of 2022, missing Government reduction target by 34,800, despite new waiting list action plan;
Latest €350m plan launched just two weeks ago unlikely to meet target of reducing waiting lists by 132,000 (18%) by end of 2022;
Urgent action needed to address public hospital capacity deficits and Consultant vacancies, say Consultants.
IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine: “The 2022 Waiting List Action Plan published by the Department of Health just two weeks ago has fallen at the first hurdle. The NTPF figures released today confirm our fears that these waiting lists may take a decade or more to get under control without simultaneously resolving the Consultant recruitment and retention crisis in our public hospitals and filling the one in five Consultant posts vacant or filled on a temporary basis.”
7th March 2022
Ireland needs to almost double the number of Orthopaedic Consultants to reach a national target set nearly 20 years ago and meet demand
The Hanly Report, published in 2003, recommended that Ireland needed 4 Orthopaedic Consultants per 100,000 population – today, there are still only 2.4 per 100,000
1st March 2022
IHCA Statement on the HSE National Service Plan 2022
Commenting on today’s publication of the HSE National Service Plan 2022, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said:
25th February 2022
IHCA Statement on HSE Waiting List Action Plan
Commenting on today’s publication of the HSE Waiting List Action Plan, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association said:
“We were not consulted in the formulation of this plan so are only seeing it today for the first time. It comes at a time when there is a real credibility issue in our health system.
“That official health policy now provides for patient wait times of up to a year for a procedure and 18 months for initial assessment reflects the scale of the crisis we are now in. Almost 900,000 people are currently on a waiting list with 245,000 of these people waiting over a year for either a procedure or to see a hospital consultant. They are waiting for the primary reasons that we have a massive shortage of the hospital consultants, beds, and theatre facilities required to assess and treat patients in a timely manner.
“There is no detail in the plan on sustainable additional capacity to meet these latest targets. The 45 actions listed in the plan don’t address the fundamental issue of the overwhelming shortage of consultants, acute hospital beds, theatre and other frontline resources. Indications that as much as 25% of care will be outsourced to the private system is questionable given it is unclear that such capacity even exists at this point.
23rd February 2022
Patients in West and North-West facing delays as hospitals miss out on new beds and struggle with shortage of consultants
Hospitals in Saolta University Health Care Group have some of worst waiting lists in the country as over 143,000 people wait for care;
4,500 additional patients are now waiting longer than a year for inpatient/day case treatment across the Group compared with 2015;
Only 36 of the 806 additional acute beds opened nationwide over the past two years were in Saolta Group hospitals – no new acute beds were opened at Galway University Hospitals;
Consultant recruitment crisis and capacity deficits are root cause of delays in providing care, with 1 in 4 permanent Consultant posts vacant or not filled as needed.
IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine: “Government needs to progress practical plans to expand hospital capacity and Consultant staffing in the West and North-West, without delay. Health service management must make good on promises to provide the extra Consultants, extra beds and extra hospital facilities so badly needed or we will be grappling with waiting lists in the region for the next decade.”
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