paediatric specialties without doctors! More than 100,000 children are waiting for hospital treatment in Ireland
DUBLIN – More than 100,000 children in Ireland are awaiting hospital treatment due to a consultant shortage. Of these, 40,000 have been on the waiting list for over a year.
Even those who have been admitted to the hospital are not receiving treatment. The government and HSE must appoint an adequate number of consultants. According to the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), this lack of preparedness is exacerbating the problem. The association has also released this ominous news.
Due to the cyber attack on HSE, the figures till the end of this month are not available, said Assoc. This is the information until May 13.
Even this figure is incomplete as it does not include children awaiting MRI scans and radiology. At CHI Children’s Hospital, over 8,000 children are waiting for CT scans, MRIs, and ultrasounds. If they are added, the total number will be more than 1 lakh.
Paediatric specialties without doctors.
There is a shortage of hospital consultants in all paediatric specialties in the country. This prevents children from receiving high-quality medical care.
According to Alan Irwin, the association’s president, this problem can only be solved if the currently vacant hospital consultant positions are filled and enough additional consultants are appointed.
The association said there are more than 95,000 children on the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) waiting list. As of May 13, 2021, there were 82,264 children on hospital outpatient waiting lists. Of these, 45% (37,350) have been waiting for an outpatient appointment for more than a year.
20,000 children in Dublin hospitals alone.
20,000 children (47%) are waiting more than a year to see a consultant in Dublin’s three children’s hospitals alone. This is a 3% increase over last year. The association also points out that the number of long waiters has increased fivefold in the last six years.
They are not getting treatment, even in the hospital.
In mid-May, there were 7,698 children on the inpatient/day case waiting list. 4,235 of these children are awaiting day treatment. 3,463 children have been waiting for hospital inpatient treatment since the beginning of the year. This represents a 3% increase over last year. One-third of them (2,614 (34%), have been waiting for over a year. ENT has 17,893, paediatrics – 13,065, dermatology – 8,735, ophthalmology – 6,851, and orthopaedics – 6,536.
There are 8,85,189 patients awaiting treatment in Ireland.
NTPF figures reveal that 8,85,189 patients in Ireland are waiting to see a doctor. One in every nine (11%) of these are children. The first years of a child’s life are critical to their lifelong health and development. If not treated properly at the time, it can be life-threatening, according to IHCA President Prof. Alan Irwin.
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