Mayo View: A health system stumbling from one crisis to the next is unsustainable
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association issued a telling statement in recent days in which they emphasised that patient health in the west and northwest is at risk due to excessive delays to care provision.
The organisation singled out the Saolta Hospitals Group, of which Mayo University Hospital is attached, as one in a particular state of chaos.
It said public hospitals within the group ‘have unmanageable waiting lists with more than 131,000 people waiting for care’.
Waiting lists for outpatient appointments, inpatient, day-case treatments and procedures in the region have increased by 3% since the start of the year and by 42% since 2015.
This sharp increase occurred despite the government investing €443 million this year on a waiting list action plan which has set a target to reduce by 10% waiting lists for appointments for outpatient, inpatient and day-case treatments and procedures this year.
This failure to deliver results on such a massive investment is caused by bed shortages, which invariably leads to appointments and operations being routinely cancelled.
The fact that the number of attendances at hospital emergency departments has risen by 104,000 this year compared to pre-pandemic levels has led to the cancellation of more than 41,000 hospital operations and appointments during the first two months of 2023 alone.
It is remarkable, even irresponsible, that the HSE is signing off on the spending of such massive amounts of money without the root cause of waiting lists being addressed as the top priority.
The problem is only going to get worse year on year unless there is greater transparency in respect of the spending of such vast levels of taxpayers' money - and why it is not having the desired impact in the areas that need it most.
Some elected representatives are doing their best to get the answers but it appears they are coming up against a brick wall within the department.
The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, recently announced a rapid build programme designed to deliver 1,5000 additional beds in acute hospitals over 2023 and 2024, a project in which Mayo University Hospital has not been included to date.
It will cost €1 billion to fund this additional capacity but cabinet approval for the money is still awaited and may or may not be sanctioned ahead of the October budget.
Even if it is, can the public be sure that it will achieve its objective?
Recent evidence regrettably suggests that it won't.
In the meantime our emergency departments will continue to be seriously overcrowded, placing sick people in situations not conducive to recovery.
It's a no-brainer for the elected members of Mayo County Council to debate the crisis at Mayo University Hospital at a special meeting, as requested by former Castlebar town councillor Harry Barrett.
Councillors may not have a direct input into issues relating to the running of hospitals, but they have a duty to stand up for those who elected them, a percentage of whom are not gaining access to the medical care they need.