TALLAGHT HOSPITAL in Dublin stopped accepting GP referrals to get its outpatient waiting lists under control, an investigation by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found.
A report published by the CAG last September stated that “in one hospital some clinics were no longer accepting referrals in order to get the outpatient waiting lists under control”.
The report said this “dysfunctional” practice of closing the outpatient appointment book to bring waiting times under control should be prohibited.
It did not say in the report, however, which hospital was involved in this practice, but a spokeswoman for the CAG’s office confirmed to The Irish Times last evening that the hospital concerned was Tallaght hospital.
The hospital has been at the centre of controversy this week over leaving thousands of GP referral letters unopened, as well as allowing almost 58,000 X-rays to go unreported by consultant radiologists.
The hospital says all GP referral letters are now opened on receipt and processed according to speciality. But it has admitted that, in October 2009, there was a backlog of 3,498 letters which had not been opened. The letters dated back to 2002.
Tallaght GP Dr Siobhán Kierans said yesterday she had recently started receiving replies from the hospital to referral letters she sent to the hospital about patients seven years ago, indicating it has begun to clear the backlog.
Another local GP, Prof Tom O’Dowd, claimed earlier this week he was told by a manager at the hospital in early 2009 that there were “two years of GP referral letters” left unopened in the hospital.
The hospital met local GPs and TDs yesterday. Afterwards, it said “an outpatients governing committee” was being established, and a GP nominee will sit on this committee and work with the hospital to further improve services to GPs.
The hospital’s chief executive, Prof Kevin Conlon, told them the hospital is working vigorously to resolve the X-ray issue.
Local Fine Gael TD Brian Hayes said the briefing from Prof Conlon had been reassuring, but he called on the chairman of the hospital board, Lyndon MacCann, to now make a public statement on what was going on. It was important he did this for the staff and the local community, he said.
Some 1,340 people have now called the two special helplines set up by the hospital for people concerned their X-rays may have been among those left unreported between 2005 and 2009. More than 34,000 of the almost 58,000 X-rays which went unreported have now been reviewed and, in two cases, patients were found to have had a delayed diagnosis. One of these patients is dead.
Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive (HSE) says it will be next week before it will be able to announce details of the team being set up to inquire into the backlog of X-rays and GP referral letters at Tallaght.
The HSE has confirmed there is no national protocol on how hospitals should deal with GP referral letters, but a spokeswoman said guidance was issued to all hospitals by its National Hospitals Office some years ago. This indicated referral letters should be date-stamped on receipt, assessed by the appropriate healthcare professional, marked as “routine” or “urgent” depending on their clinical need, while patients referred to should be placed on a waiting list or issued with an appointment.
Separately, Des O’Flynn, group general manager of Louth/Meath hospitals, yesterday dismissed a claim by Monaghan GP Dr Illona Duffy that referral letters sent to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, two years ago were being put in a box to keep waiting lists down. Dr Duffy said she was told this was happening by staff when she phoned the hospital.