LIMERICK Sinn Féin TD, Maurice Quinlivan, has called on the Minister for Health to do more to tackle outpatient wating lists at University Hospital Limerick. The Limerick Deputy made the call during a Dáil debate on national waiting lists.
Speaking in the Dáil chamber the Limerick TD stated that there are 43,656 people on Outpatient Waiting Lists at University Hospital Limerick, of which 19,000 are waiting over 18 months for a consultation.
The Limerick Deputy highlighted a recent case that he had been dealing with and stated:
“I recently raised with the HSE the case of a Limerick constituent, a woman in her mid-sixties. She is suffering from cartilage damage to her knee. It inhibits her movement and restricts her lifestyle. He status or grading on the Waiting List is Urgent, yet we are advised that she will be waiting 30 months for an appointment with a specialist. 30 months of pain and limited movement. She will be 70 by the time she sees her consultant. This is disgraceful. My office has dealt with numerous such cases. “
The Sinn Féin TD criticised the Health Minister’s response to the national health crisis and called for the implementation of centralised referral system and an integrated waiting list management system. The Limerick Deputy suggested that the introduction of such planning systems would allow for patients to be seen at alternative hospitals if those hospitals have available capacity.
He stated:
“The ship has no rudder. The Minister offers no direction. I have pleaded with him that he tackles the high number of people being treated on Trolleys in our hospitals – he did not do so. Now I urge him once more to step up and help our health professionals and their patients.”
Concluding his remarks, the Limerick Deputy stated:
“We in Sinn Féin have plans to fix this health service, we know the direction to take. It will require significant but necessary investment. We cannot have our sick and injured being treated like this and we cannot have our health professionals working in such challenging conditions. The Pandemic highlighted to us all how important our health is. It showed us how important our health service is. Let’s build on this learning and ease this burden from our health professionals and patients. Limerick people deserve so much better.
