A war of words has broken out between Children’s Health Ireland and Sinn Fein over the number of chemotherapy appointments cancelled last year.
Sinn Féin claimed in the Dáil yesterday that 800 chemo sessions for children and young people were called off in 2023, but CHI says most of the cancellations were for ‘clinical reasons’ like a sick patient or the treatment no longer being needed.
The party’s health spokesperson David Cullinane is now querying why CHI would dispute its own figures, which it provided to the HSE.
His colleague for Carlow Kilkenny says the data also shows 82,323 hospital appointment cancellations across the Ireland East Hospital group.
Teachta Kathleen Funchion said that the Government’s lack of a plan for overcrowding was impacting directly on waiting lists through cancellations and said that the Government was shifting the problem from emergency departments to waiting lists, leaving patients waiting longer for access to care.
The local Deputy says that Sinn Féin has a plan to improve the health service by delivering 3,000 hospital and community beds, ending the recruitment embargo, training more healthcare professionals, and investing in local health services.
Deputy Funchion says; “The Government is failing to tackle hospital overcrowding which is leading to record levels of cancellations. There were more than 82,232 hospital appointments cancelled across the Ireland East Hospital Group in 2023″.
“13 years of Varadkar, Harris, and Donnelly have made the health service worse. They have decimated local health services and created a crisis in our hospitals. The Government does not have a plan for hospital overcrowding, and this is forcing hospitals to rely on cancellations. This is shifting the problem from overcrowded emergency departments onto lengthy waiting lists. It is not a sustainable solution.
“Sinn Féin has a plan for the health service to improve access, tackle hospital overcrowding, and reduce lengthy waiting lists. We would deliver 3,000 hospital and community beds to tackle overcrowding and inefficiency; end the recruitment embargo and train more health care professionals to safely staff the health service; and invest in better local health services including GP care and a pharmacy first model.
“Sinn Féin would fast-track elective centres so that we can separate unscheduled, emergency care from scheduled surgeries and procedures. This will increase surgical theatre capacity, help to reduce the number of cancellations, and free up capacity in hospitals for emergency care.
“We would also invest in home support, community step-down beds, and diagnostic capacity so that patients can be discharged home or to a supported care setting when they are ready, and to ensure that patients’ experiences are not delayed by lengthy waiting lists for scans.
“Simon Harris will not fix in 10 months the disaster which Fine Gael have created over 13 years. IT’s time for a Health Minister who will stand up for people and deliver the change that the health service needs.”
In response, the Ireland East Hospital Group has issued the following statement to KCLR News;
“The Ireland East Hospital Group (IEHG) fully acknowledges the distress and inconvenience for patients and their families when hospital appointments are cancelled, particularly in the case of clinically urgent procedures. While every effort is made to avoid cancellation or postponement of planned procedures, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has advised that planned procedures and operations can be postponed or cancelled for a variety of reasons including capacity issues due to increased scheduled and unscheduled care demand.
In respect of reporting of cancellations to improve the long-term efficiency of the service, the HSE worked with hospitals and hospital groups in 2022 to develop a process for the collection and collation of data on cancellations.
The data does not measure that a procedure or appointment did not go ahead, rather that the procedure/appointment did not go ahead on the date originally scheduled.
Cancelled hospital procedures/appointments are, where appropriate, rescheduled as early as possible with priority given to patients requiring time-sensitive and urgent treatment.
Patient safety remains at the centre of all hospital activity and elective care scheduling. To ensure services are provided in a safe, clinically aligned and prioritised way, hospitals are following HSE clinical guidelines and protocols.”
