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First-time outpatient waiting list doubles to 340,000

  • 20-09-2012 8:05pm
    #1
    Truman Burbank
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 543 ✭✭✭


    http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0920/hospital-outpatient-waiting.html

    - Open clinics at the weekends
    - Confirm patient attendance prior
    - Bring in Radiographers, phlebotomy, Med lab, clerical etc. - say 1 weekend in 4 per person, no OT, days in lieu where possible
    - Make OPD (in general) efficient, not a 'first-come first served' abyss
    - Deal with the unions


Comments

  • #2
    Xeyn
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 555 ✭✭✭Xeyn


    Truman Burbank wrote: »
    http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0920/hospital-outpatient-waiting.html

    - Open clinics at the weekends
    - Confirm patient attendance prior
    - Bring in Radiographers, phlebotomy, Med lab, clerical etc. - say 1 weekend in 4 per person, no OT, days in lieu where possible
    - Make OPD (in general) efficient, not a 'first-come first served' abyss
    - Deal with the unions

    Something definitely does need to be done about it.
    However who do you plan to man these weekend clinics? There are barely enough doctors to man the clinics currently being run. The NCHDs are already run off their feet and putting in in excess of 70 hours every weeks with further hours going unpaid. How are you going to get around this and not pay overtime?
    Take a surgical team for example. They have to start the day at around 7.30 to get in a ward round before the theatre lists start which often run late finishing well after 6pm. In between and not on theatre days there are clinic days which are oversubscribed. There are many instances where clinic are manned by a single sho and the consultant.

    Clinics are far from efficient and I agree things can be done to reduce the times here. However most clinics have referral letters triaged by an spr. Non urgent, urgent, very urgent etc. once you fall into a category it's first come first served but not before.

    Surgical opds can be run better by not clogging the system with pointless call backs. Patients who have routine operations like lap chole's, appendectomies, varicose vein surgery etc ate often called back to the clinic for follow up. There is simply no good reason for this apart from report building. A GP is more than qualified to check up on these patients and only if needed refer back to the team.

    There is a huge shortage of doctors in this country and the way they are treated and the fact that training is beyond a joke means this problem has and will continue to get worse year on year.
    The unacceptable waiting times are a symptom of an entire system at rot.


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