Average wait for common surgery is two to four months

Four hospitals are responsible for more than half of the adults waiting over a year for an operation, according to the latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda; Letterkenny General Hospital; Sligo General Hospital and Tallaght hospital account for 2,444 patients out of 4,502 who have been waiting for a surgical procedure for more than a year, the June 2007 report on the Patient Treatment Register shows.

In Tallaght and Letterkenny, most of these patients have been waiting for general surgery, while the longest waiting list in Sligo is for orthopaedic procedures. Urology accounts for the longest delay in Drogheda.

The figures show that the average waiting time by public hospital patients for the most common surgical procedures is now between two to four months for adults. This compares with wait times of two to five years in 2002 when the fund was set up.

Any public patient waiting for more than three months for an operation can contact the National Treatment Purchase Fund (1890 720 820) to see if they can have their treatment arranged quicker and for free. The fund says that in most cases, treatment can be arranged within weeks.

Fund chief executive Pat O'Byrne said substantial progress had been made in reducing waiting times, but there were still too many people waiting "unacceptably and unnecessarily long" for operations at certain hospitals.

"There is no need for any patient to be waiting longer than three months for their procedure and we will be working with the hospitals concerned to target those waiting longest and get them an offer of treatment."

He said hospitals such as Dublin's Mater or UCH Galway which had worked with the fund had greatly improved waiting list times in recent years.

Mr O'Byrne said the fund had written to almost 16,000 people on waiting lists to tell them about the option to use its service, but almost 11,000 did not respond to the offer.

He said there was a variety of reasons for the lack of response, including the fact that some patients had since received their treatment either privately or publicly or had moved house.

The average waiting time for children's surgery is now between two to five months. The children's hospitals in Crumlin and Temple Street account for almost half of children waiting for more than a year for surgery.

Most children on a waiting list for more than a year in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin are waiting for ear, nose and throat operations, while paediatric surgery accounts for the longest waiting list at the Children's University Hospital in Temple Street, Dublin.

In total, 14,738 adults and 2,081 children are waiting for surgery in the 36 public hospitals around the State. Some 38 per cent of adults are waiting for three to six months, while 31 per cent are waiting for six to 12 months; 31 per cent are waiting for over a year.

Of the 2,081 children currently awaiting a surgical procedure, 879 are waiting for three to six months, 710 are waiting for six to 12 months, and 492 are waiting for more than a year.

The National Treatment Purchase Fund has set up an online patient treatment register which patients, hospitals and doctors can visit to see waiting lists at 36 hospitals around the State (www.ptr.ie).

This allows GPs to refer a patient to the hospital with the shortest waiting list for a particular procedure.

The fund has arranged treatment for more than 75,000 public patients since 2002, and it aims to arrange treatment for 27,500 patients this year.