The Progressive Democrats plan for eradicating health service waiting lists is breathtakingly simple in design. What long-suffering patient, waiting years for treatment in the hospital sector, could resist the guarantee of receiving necessary treatment in the private sector with the State picking up the tab? If implemented, the patient will know by Christmas when the treatment will take place. And if their own consultant is unable to deliver within a reasonable time, then the PDs propose to avail of hospital services overseas.
Consumers reading the proposal might wonder whether it is already Christmas. To more dispassionate observers, both the timing and the content of the PD proposal raises serious issues. If there is a genuine partnership Government in place, why was the proposal not routed through the Cabinet sub-committee dealing with the Health Strategy?
On a positive note, the proposal is a real and immediate attempt to introduce equality of access into our healthcare system. It is likely to succeed in delivering treatment more quickly for those patients waiting for relatively minor procedures who can be scheduled as day cases within the State's hospitals. What the proposal will almost certainly fail to achieve is a meaningful reduction in the waiting time for major cardiac operations, hip and knee replacements and paediatric procedures requiring enhanced levels of post-operative nursing care. For this to happen, patients will have to consent to treatment abroad, probably in France or Germany. How many will be happy to spend two weeks this far from home? Will the Department of Health pay for relatives to accompany them for these major procedures, something patients will surely demand as a basic right?
The PD initiative would be more likely to succeed if, in tandem with the targeted waiting list proposal, there was a commitment to open up the public hospital system to a minimum routine 18 hours-a-day use. The private sector should be encouraged to lease operating theatres and radiotherapy suites for evening and weekend use. The private sector could then offer public service nurses a premium rate for working overtime, thus ensuring that our most precious professional asset is not poached from the public sector. The PD proposal is to be welcomed; it should generate worthwhile debate on an issue of much public concern. Meanwhile, Health Strategy 2001 is already overdue. The Government's health policy proposals must be published promptly.