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02/12/2010
Long Waiting List For Out-Patients
There was disappointing news this week that over 50,000 people on hospital waiting lists have been queuing for over nine weeks.
It also emerged that over half of these have been kept more than 13 weeks and that another 18,615 patients were added to the list of people waiting for their first outpatient appointment between June and September this year, bringing the total up to 128,835.
In fact, at the end of September, there were 52,326 people - over 40% of the total - waiting over nine weeks. Of these, 35,969 had been waiting more than 13 weeks.
However, the Stormont Health Minister Michael McGimspey has said that significant additional recurrent funding of £50m to expand health service capacity in the last two years will help reduce waiting lists.
But the Minister has warned that it will take a considerable amount of time to recruit the number of additional clinical staff needed.
He was commenting after the latest waiting list figures published for the end of September 2010 showed these damning further increases in waiting times for first outpatient appointments and admissions for inpatient or day case treatment.
"It is very disappointing again to see further increases but we must not forget the significant improvements in waiting times over the last number of years.
"These rises are a direct result of my budget being repeatedly cut. If my budget is to be further cut then we will see more increases in waiting times because we simply cannot meet the demand for services without the funding to match it.
"I apologise to those patients who are waiting longer for surgery and outpatient appointments and assure the public that I am making every effort to get people treated as quickly as possible," he continued.
Commenting on the end of September waiting list figures, John Compton, Chief Executive of the Health and Social Care Board blamed it squarely on funding: "The increase in elective waiting times is a direct result of the reduced level of funding available in 2010/11 to supplement health service capacity by sending patients to the Independent Sector, combined with increasing demand for elective care.
"In the region of an additional 250 clinical staff will be appointed from the first tranche of this funding, of which some 200 are now in post, with the remainder expected to be in place early next year. A similar number of additional appointments are likely to be made from the second tranche of this funding, and the Board is currently carrying out a detailed capacity exercise to identify those areas to which this funding should be most effectively targeted.
"In the meantime, the Board has allocated a substantial amount of non-recurrent funding to Trusts to undertake additional outpatient, diagnostic and treatment activity. This is expected to halt the rise in waiting times that have been seen over the first half of the year and deliver some improvement during the 3rd & 4th quarters.
"It is recognised that in some specialties, this additional activity is less than the level required to achieve the Minister's elective access targets by March 2011."
The department's target states that by 31 March 2011, no patient should wait longer than nine weeks for a first outpatient appointment.
All patients waiting for Integrated Clinical Assessment and Treatment Service appointments, and also for diagnostic services, are also expected to been seen within the target deadline by that date.
(BMcC/GK)
It also emerged that over half of these have been kept more than 13 weeks and that another 18,615 patients were added to the list of people waiting for their first outpatient appointment between June and September this year, bringing the total up to 128,835.
In fact, at the end of September, there were 52,326 people - over 40% of the total - waiting over nine weeks. Of these, 35,969 had been waiting more than 13 weeks.
However, the Stormont Health Minister Michael McGimspey has said that significant additional recurrent funding of £50m to expand health service capacity in the last two years will help reduce waiting lists.
But the Minister has warned that it will take a considerable amount of time to recruit the number of additional clinical staff needed.
He was commenting after the latest waiting list figures published for the end of September 2010 showed these damning further increases in waiting times for first outpatient appointments and admissions for inpatient or day case treatment.
"It is very disappointing again to see further increases but we must not forget the significant improvements in waiting times over the last number of years.
"These rises are a direct result of my budget being repeatedly cut. If my budget is to be further cut then we will see more increases in waiting times because we simply cannot meet the demand for services without the funding to match it.
"I apologise to those patients who are waiting longer for surgery and outpatient appointments and assure the public that I am making every effort to get people treated as quickly as possible," he continued.
Commenting on the end of September waiting list figures, John Compton, Chief Executive of the Health and Social Care Board blamed it squarely on funding: "The increase in elective waiting times is a direct result of the reduced level of funding available in 2010/11 to supplement health service capacity by sending patients to the Independent Sector, combined with increasing demand for elective care.
"In the region of an additional 250 clinical staff will be appointed from the first tranche of this funding, of which some 200 are now in post, with the remainder expected to be in place early next year. A similar number of additional appointments are likely to be made from the second tranche of this funding, and the Board is currently carrying out a detailed capacity exercise to identify those areas to which this funding should be most effectively targeted.
"In the meantime, the Board has allocated a substantial amount of non-recurrent funding to Trusts to undertake additional outpatient, diagnostic and treatment activity. This is expected to halt the rise in waiting times that have been seen over the first half of the year and deliver some improvement during the 3rd & 4th quarters.
"It is recognised that in some specialties, this additional activity is less than the level required to achieve the Minister's elective access targets by March 2011."
The department's target states that by 31 March 2011, no patient should wait longer than nine weeks for a first outpatient appointment.
All patients waiting for Integrated Clinical Assessment and Treatment Service appointments, and also for diagnostic services, are also expected to been seen within the target deadline by that date.
(BMcC/GK)
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Outpatient hospital waiting list figures rise
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Outpatient hospital waiting list figures rise
The number of people waiting for a first outpatient appointment has increased in the last three months by almost 6%. The figures published by the Department of Health revealed that the number of patients waiting for an initial outpatient consultation had risen by 9,385 to 176,523, an increase of 5.6% on the previous quarter.
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