The Irish Hospital Consultants Association says over 100,000 patients were removed from hospital waiting lists in the last year – without receiving any treatment.
The IHCA say that this was done after the patients in question had been contacted by the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
“This validation involves hospital administration contacting patients on waiting lists to ensure that they are still available to attend appointments or require their procedure. Many patients will have made alternative arrangements due to the length of time on the waiting list or may no longer be suitable for treatment. The largest number of such outpatient removals under the NTPF co-ordinated validation last year were in the West.”
While no figures have been made available for Letterkenny University Hospital, the total number of patients of Saolta hospitals along the western seaboard who were removed from waiting lists via this method totalled 25,908 – the highest of any region.
Galway University Hospital – which does cater to a number of Donegal patients who have to travel for treatment unavailable at Letterkenny – saw the biggest number of waiting list removals in the state, with over 11,000 patients being taken off lists there in the last 12 months.
However this action only saw a small drop in overall waiting list numbers nationwide, with the IHCA saying there was only a total reduction of 18,800 patients on the three main waiting lists despite these measures – 50,000 short of the Government’s target for the year.
