Hospital waiting list-what to do?

fussyonion

I'm sorry if this isn't in the right thread/page. I'm not entirely familiar with where to post new threads, so apologies if I've gotten it wrong.
I just have a quick question.

My mother is currently awaiting a gynae appointment at Tallaght Hospital for June 2012 but she has an issue (which I won't go into) that I feel is urgent.

I think having to wait this long is a disgrace and I'm so worried.
She went to her GP to tell her she couldn't really wait til June 2012 as her medical condition was worrying her and she was finding life hard coping with the nature of her condition.
She received some medication but this hasn't really worked.

The GP told her to call the hospital to see if her appointment could be moved up to an earlier one but they were adamant that "the consultant doesn't feel it's urgent enough and you'll have to wait".

I'm so worried about my mother and the fact that she has to wait.
I understand there's a waiting list, of course I do, but the nature of her condition makes me worry and I do feel she should be seen to sooner.

My question is...Can she request to go to another hospital to be seen to if their waiting list was shorter?
Wasn't there some rule that stated, if you were waiting longer than 3 months for an appointment that you could go private for free?
Does anyone remember that?

I would very much appreciate your views.
Thanks for reading.

robodonkey

Knowing a little bit about the workings of the hospitals, I'm informed that lists are being cancelled on a daily basis with Docs being told by the bean counters to "clinically prioritise" cases.

When the docs reply that ALL of the cases are urgent, they are told to prioritise the MOST urgent.

And so on, until the minimum amount of medical expenditure is achieved without someone actually dying in front of them.

The simple fact is that each patient and procedure has a $$ value, and when you add up the hospitals income and it's expenditure, the sums do not add up.

The system is grinding to a halt folks, and sadly it's Joe Public who suffers.

Hopefully your Mum will find a solution

fussyonion

robodonkey wrote: »

Knowing a little bit about the workings of the hospitals, I'm informed that lists are being cancelled on a daily basis with Docs being told by the bean counters to "clinically prioritise" cases.

When the docs reply that ALL of the cases are urgent, they are told to prioritise the MOST urgent.

And so on, until the minimum amount of medical expenditure is achieved without someone actually dying in front of them.

The simple fact is that each patient and procedure has a $$ value, and when you add up the hospitals income and it's expenditure, the sums do not add up.

The system is grinding to a halt folks, and sadly it's Joe Public who suffers.

Hopefully your Mum will find a solution

Thanks for that info, it was very helpful.
I've spoken to some people in the know about what's wrong with my mother and apparently it's nothing to worry about, so at least that weight's off my mind.
Like I said, she didn't mind waiting but I had just been concerned for her welfare, but hopefully June will come round quickly!