Waiting lists are out of control and healthcare equipment is becoming obsolete, the Irish Hospital Consultant Association has said in its pre-budget submission.
The organisation produced a report for the government comparing the HSE’s own statistics to OECD averages, revealing that Ireland has fallen behind other industrial countries in key indicators including knee replacement and cancer care.
The association also said ministers were overspending on temporarily or emergency consultants, rather than hiring full-time consulting staff.
Its submission included its own freedom of information request, which showed that the state spent €368,000 on an agency-hired emergency department consultant in Letterkenny general hospital in the 12 months to October, 2011.
Tom Ryan, president of the IHCA, said that such examples showed that the government was needlessly spending money on external agencies.
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“In Waterford there are two urologists for 500,000 people and there is a nine-year waiting list,” he said. “Our population is ageing so there is going to be greater and greater demand for such services but there is no plan in place to deal with this extra capacity.”
Using information supplied by the HSE, the association said that there were more than 500,000 people on waiting lists, including 80,000 waiting for surgery; 20,000 for endoscopes and 400,000 in outpatient departments.
“Waiting lists are spiralling out of control because there is not enough capacity in the system,” Dr Ryan said. “Public hospitals urgently need additional acute beds, intensive care beds, theatre operating time, consultants and other frontline staff. This is essential to reduce the unacceptable waiting lists, the overcrowding of emergency departments and the increasing number of patients being treated on trolleys.”
The association is calling for a review of the proposed €3 billion health capital plan for 2016 to 2021. Dr Ryan said: “The cumulative cuts of nearly €1.9 billion in the current plan, compared with 2008, is rapidly leading to a crumbling health service infrastructure, with acute hospitals attempting to treat patients with equipment that is increasingly obsolete.”
The association claimed that the addition of a new children’s hospital in Dublin and plans to relocate the city’s maternity hospitals means there will not be sufficient funds in the current plan to replace obsolete equipment or develop additional capacity.
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The HSE did not respond to a request for comment.
The IHCA is among an array of organisations across the economy submitting proposals for 2018.
Regina Doherty, the employment and social protection minister, will host her department’s pre-budget forum in Dublin Castle today. It will include a number of workshops in which organisations will discuss and debate their priorities for Budget 2018. Finian McGrath, the minister of state with special responsibility for disability issues, will also attend.
Organisations attending include the Irish Farmer’s Association, ALONE, St Vincent de Paul and Pavee Point.