New hospitals’ boss concerned about patient ‘no shows’

The non-attendance of approximately 35,000 out-patients scheduled for appointments in two Galway public hospitals last year represents one of the biggest challenges facing the local acute hospital service.
That’s according to the new chief executive officer of the Galway and Roscommon University Hospitals’ Group, who insists the Health Service Executive (HSE) has a difficult task to ensure all patients fulfil their out-patients appointments.
The huge number of so-called “no-shows” is 5,500 less than the total number of “invalidated” patients on the Outpatient Waiting List for University College Hospital, Galway and Merlin Park, Galway, which now stands at 40,517.
However, Mr Maher expects this figure could reduce by between 10% and 15% when the number of patients on multiple lists for the same out-patients’ procedures are removed from the system.
It is estimated that Galway University Hospitals see 5,000 patients every week.
Speaking at a recent HSE Forum meeting in Galway, Mr Maher explained if all patients turned up for their appointments, their overall out-patient waiting list would be much lower.
The new boss of public hospitals in Galway and Roscommon is also determined to tackle the “new to review rate” ratio for public patients amid concern some patients have been seen for follow-up appointments seven or eight times – a ratio he finds “inappropriate”.
In addition to tackling the capacity issue by providing more out-patient clinics and juggling in-patient waiting lists, Mr Maher is also keen to improve the diagnostic issue by diagnosing patients quicker.
Concerned that the information collection system for out-patients is not as good as it should be, Mr Maher wants to ensure lists are fully validated to achieve a more accurate picture of exact out-patient waiting numbers.
HSE Forum West chairman, Padraig Conneely, declared people who had spent years on out-patient waiting list would be waiting with “bated breadth” to get their letter from the hospitals.
“I am getting horrific stories about people waiting for years for procedures.
“Some people are waiting five or six years to get an out-patient appointment. Will there be an improvement on this? About 7,500 patients are waiting for orthopaedic appointments. How much more pain and suffering will these patients have to endure?” he asked.
Mr Maher said the HSE needed to bring waiting times as close as possible to the expected national target of 12 months initially and then concentrate on reducing this further on a phased basis.
“12 months is still far too long on an out-patients waiting list but we have to start with a realistic target,” he explained.
With seven orthopaedic surgeons working in the Galway Hospitals, he expressed optimism the total figure of 7,500 patients waiting for procedures would be reduced over the coming months.
Stating some patients were waiting for out-patient orthopaedic appointments for a week while others could be waiting three or four months, he stressed the main priority was to identify the patients with the longest waiting times and get them off the list.
“The real issue is not the total amount of patients on the list but the length of time these patients are waiting. If orthopaedic patients were only waiting for six months, everyone would be very happy. However, in some specialities, people are waiting for a few years.
“As part of the action plan, we are going to write out to patients and offer them a realistic appointment date and see if they still need the treatment.
“The Special Delivery Unit recently launched an initiative to deal with the Outpatient Waiting List, which is similar to the one underway for Inpatient Waiting lists
Regional director of operations, John Hennessy said the HSE wanted to reduce the out-patients waiting time to 12 months and ultimately reduce it to a number of weeks.