News

Urgent action needed to address public hospital capacity deficits and Consultant vacancies Over 879,000 people on some form of NTPF waiting list, including 96,000 children;  114 people added to public hospital waiting lists every single day throughout 2021; Over 100% increases in outpatient and inpatient/day case waiting lists at some public hospitals over the past 12 months;  One-in-five permanent hospital consultant posts remain vacant or are filled on a temporary basis. IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine: “More people were waiting for hospital treatment at the end of 2021 than at the start of the year, despite a four-month action plan from Government to address the issue. This is simply not good enough, irrespective of the pressures we are facing during this latest Covid wave…we must give priority to it.”

35,500 people in the Midlands are waiting to be seen or treated by a Consultant at the region’s acute public hospitals;  Gynaecology, General Surgery, and Orthopaedics account for 75% of those awaiting inpatient/day case hospital treatment; MRH Tullamore has country’s fourth largest ENT outpatient waiting list and fifth largest orthopaedic outpatient waiting list; One in four approved permanent hospital Consultant posts in the Midlands are not filled as needed, which is the root cause of delays in providing timely care patients. IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine: “Every single one of the 35,539 people in the Midlands waiting for public hospital treatment represents 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. The Government needs to urgently act to resolve the consultant recruitment and retention crisis to facilitate the care these patients so desperately need.”

More children presenting to Emergency Departments for care due to lack of access to Hospital Consultants and Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists in the community 

44% of trainee specialist doctors indicate intention to go abroad to practise medicine;  86% of doctors in training consistently working over 40 hours a week; 46% work over 48 hours; Ireland has lowest number of specialist doctors in EU;  “At a time when we need more doctors, we’re losing them” — IHCA President, Alan Irvine  The Irish health system is losing its future Hospital Consultants at an alarming rate despite the huge need for them here, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association has warned. 

Over 897,000 people waiting to be treated or assessed by a hospital Consultant across the country;  An increase of more than 58,400 people added to the lists so far in 2021; Inroads in main outpatient and inpatient/day case lists are offset by escalating delays in other lists such as planned procedures;  Ongoing Consultant contract discussions critically important to filling the 1 in 5 vacant consultant posts and reducing waiting lists. IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine: “The scale and complexity of what the health service now faces over the winter months and into 2022 is unprecedented. We have a backlog of care greater than anything we have seen over the past decade. We are not bringing these lists under control quick enough and the lack of progress this year is really damning.”

Over 97,000 children now on hospital waiting lists across the country—1 in 12 children in Ireland; 38,600 children waiting over 12 months for care, with 29,000 waiting more than 18 months;  Children waiting excessively long for care could suffer life-long health and developmental issues; IHCA President, Professor Alan Irvine: “We must make the recruitment of additional paediatric consultants a priority now. Conditions which could have been reversed or mitigated against are deteriorating. We’re facing a ticking time bomb of children suffering health and developmental issues due to delays in accessing care.” The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has today (9 December 2021) called on health service leaders to address the severe consultant shortages in paediatric care, warning of a ‘ticking time bomb’ in children’s hospital care. 

Orthopaedics, Dermatology, Gynaecology, and Rheumatology outpatient waiting lists in North-East hospitals increased by 49%, or 5,182 additional people, in past six years;  15,868 people awaiting assessment by a Consultant in Orthopaedics, Dermatology, Gynaecology and Rheumatology at Cavan, Drogheda, Dundalk and Navan hospitals; Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan has seen outpatient waiting lists almost double compared with 2015; Our Lady of Lourdes, Drogheda now has the fourth largest Dermatology outpatient waiting list (4,500 people) in the entire country; One in four approved permanent hospital Consultant posts in the North-East are not filled as needed, which is the root cause of delays in providing timely care to the 36,000 people on waiting lists in the region. IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine: “The severe shortage of consultants across the North-East region is the main contributor to the unacceptable delays in providing care to patients. The Government must make good on its promise to deliver the extra beds, extra consultants and extra facilities so badly needed to meet the healthcare needs of the 36,000 people in the North-East currently waiting to be assessed or treated by a hospital Consultant.”

Delay in publishing plan does not bode well for difficult weeks and months ahead; Shortfalls in beds and staffing already causing delays and cancellations for the 904,000 people on hospital waiting lists;  Prediction of severe flu season on top of continued Covid-19 pressures and ED overcrowding could result in ‘most challenging winter in years’; Strategic, empathetic leadership needed to deliver multi-annual plans for the health service, with devolved, local decision making and implementation at its core.   Commenting on the publication of the HSE Winter Plan 2021-22 on Monday 15 November 2021, Professor Alan Irvine, President of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said: 

Instead of reduction of 18,300 people on waiting lists by end of October, numbers have reduced by 10,700 since August – a 7,600 shortfall; 904,000 people still on some form of public hospital waiting list; 97,400 of these are children; 70-fold increase seen in the number of patients waiting over 12 months for hospital inpatient or day case treatment since 2012; 217 people have been added to public hospital waiting lists every single day since the start of 2021 – that’s 9 people added every hour, 24 hours a day; Ongoing Consultant contract discussions critically important to filling the 1 in 5 vacant consultant posts and reducing waiting lists. IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine: “The four-month waiting list action plan published by the Department of Health and HSE in October was never ambitious enough, given the fact that we have nearly 1 million people waiting for care. Unfortunately, the plan’s modest targets are now unlikely to be met by year end. Any medium-term Government plan to address the record waiting lists which does not simultaneously address the Consultant recruitment and retention crisis is destined to fail.”