The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
A 90-year-old Ennis man has described as “insulting” a letter he received from the HSE asking if he still needs treatment – 12 years after he was first referred by his doctor.
Kevin Stapleton from College Green had been suffering with his instep when he was referred by his doctor to the Regional Orthopaedic Hospital in Croom back in December 2000.
He never got an appointment but last week he received a letter asking him to confirm if he still needs treatment. The HSE gave him two weeks to respond.
“That letter is a joke, after 12 years I think it’s insulting to get this,” Mr Stapleton said.
When contacted by The Clare Champion, the HSE apologised for any upset caused and outlined that every acute hospital is engaged in validating its outpatient waiting list as part of a national programme to improve services.
Mr Stapleton said, “I was suffering with a lump in my instep. I couldn’t get my shoe on, it was awful painful. I was three or four years with it, it was like a little bone sticking up. Believe it or not, it’s gone away now. It went away on its own, thankfully. But, of course, I was worried about it, I still don’t know what caused it.
“I had my medical card and they’re always at the back of the queue but to get a letter in 2012, almost 2013, doesn’t make sense.
They were saying there were long waiting lists but I didn’t think it would be that long.”
His wife, Philomena, added, “You wonder why it’s taken so long. It doesn’t even say in the letter about getting it done, just if you still need treatment to contact them. You’re waiting 12 years and then they give you two weeks to reply. They should get their administration right.”
A spokesperson for the HSE responded saying, “We apologise for any upset caused and are very happy to hear that Mr Stapleton’s complaint has gone away. Every acute hospital in the country is engaged in the mammoth task of validating its outpatient waiting lists as part of a national programme to improve services to the public. This initiative is underway across the nation for all specialities.
“This means that waiting lists with many hundreds of thousands of names on them have to be checked to eliminate inaccuracies and to establish the facts. When the waiting list is validated we will have a real picture of actual need and this will help our doctors and nurses to plan their work more efficiently. We are also moving towards greater use of modern technology – texting to contact patients and to reduce the large numbers of patients who fail to attend scheduled appointments.
“Mr Stapleton has received one of many validation letters that have issued from the Mid-Western Regional Hospitals Group in the past month. The scale of the exercise can be judged from the fact that, unfortunately, this region has a very long waiting list for orthopaedic outpatient services, up to 10,000 as of September of this year. This number will be revaluated when validation is completed.
“As part of the National Musculoskeletal Clinical Programme, we appointed one clinical specialist physiotherapist in September to assess and triage patients on the orthopaedic OPD waiting list for the appropriate service. Not all people will require to be seen by an orthopaedic surgeon, while some patients can be managed by community physiotherapy services. We hope to fill a second clinical specialist physiotherapist post in the new year. Having two clinical specialist physiotherapists on board, together with completion of the validation process, will help us make significant reductions in the numbers waiting on the orthopaedic OPD waiting list in 2013.”
They were saying there were long waiting lists but I didn’t think it would be that long.”
His wife, Philomena, added, “You wonder why it’s taken so long. It doesn’t even say in the letter about getting it done, just if you still need treatment to contact them. You’re waiting 12 years and then they give you two weeks to reply. They should get their administration right.”
A spokesperson for the HSE responded saying, “We apologise for any upset caused and are very happy to hear that Mr Stapleton’s complaint has gone away. Every acute hospital in the country is engaged in the mammoth task of validating its outpatient waiting lists as part of a national programme to improve services to the public. This initiative is underway across the nation for all specialities.
“This means that waiting lists with many hundreds of thousands of names on them have to be checked to eliminate inaccuracies and to establish the facts. When the waiting list is validated we will have a real picture of actual need and this will help our doctors and nurses to plan their work more efficiently. We are also moving towards greater use of modern technology – texting to contact patients and to reduce the large numbers of patients who fail to attend scheduled appointments.
“Mr Stapleton has received one of many validation letters that have issued from the Mid-Western Regional Hospitals Group in the past month. The scale of the exercise can be judged from the fact that, unfortunately, this region has a very long waiting list for orthopaedic outpatient services, up to 10,000 as of September of this year. This number will be revaluated when validation is completed.
“As part of the National Musculoskeletal Clinical Programme, we appointed one clinical specialist physiotherapist in September to assess and triage patients on the orthopaedic OPD waiting list for the appropriate service. Not all people will require to be seen by an orthopaedic surgeon, while some patients can be managed by community physiotherapy services. We hope to fill a second clinical specialist physiotherapist post in the new year. Having two clinical specialist physiotherapists on board, together with completion of the validation process, will help us make significant reductions in the numbers waiting on the orthopaedic OPD waiting list in 2013.”
