Sir, – I strongly believe that doctors must be advocates for their patients. The current practice whereby hospitals are fined if their waiting lists go beyond 20 weeks is not in the patients’ best interests.
I am the community ophthalmologist (eye specialist) for Co Laois. I prioritise patients based on clinical need. Seriously ill children with sight-threatening illnesses and those with special needs will always get seen ahead of those with routine conditions.
I fully support Prof Michael O’Keefe’s comments on this issue (Home News, March 2nd). We should not sacrifice quality of service for quantity. The solution for waiting lists is the appointment of fully qualified specialists, rather than asking us to see more patients, with less resources, to the detriment of those who require our expertise most.Patients are people, they are not numbers. – Yours, etc,