A number of hospitals in the Republic still have significant numbers of patients waiting more than 12 months for inpatient surgery, figures due to be published today will show.
While outpatients can wait years for assessment, the Government promised in the National Health Strategy in 2001 that no patient would have to wait more than three months for inpatient surgery by the end of 2004.
New figures, compiled by the National Treatment Purchase Fund and being published today, indicate that promise has not been fulfilled.
They point to a number of "black-spots" such as the Mercy hospital in Cork and Beaumont and Cappagh hospitals in Dublin, where sources say "significant numbers" of patients are still waiting more than 12 months for their surgical procedures. The fund, which arranges private treatment for public patients waiting more than three months for surgery and has a budget this year of €80 million, now plans to target these "blackspots".
It has the names and addresses of the patients who are waiting and it plans to contact them directly and offer them treatment.
Meanwhile, an online national patient treatment register established by the fund last year which allows patients access details on how long they may have to wait for procedures at seven hospitals, mainly in Dublin, is set to be extended.
The register will from today include details of waiting times for common procedures such as hip operations and tonsillectomies at 12 other hospitals, including the main regional hospitals, as well as another three Dublin hospitals - Temple Street, Cappagh and the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital.
Patients can seek to be referred to the hospital with the shortest waiting time for the operation they require after viewing the data contained on the register.
Overall the fund's latest figures suggest the numbers waiting for surgery are down from around 19,500 in December 2004 to around 15,200 at present.
The figures are being published just days after the fund came in for strong criticism at the annual conference of the Irish Medical Organisation. The group's consultant leader, Seán Tierney, told the meeting it cost far more per year to run the fund than it did to run many of our smaller public hospitals, most of which catered for far more patients.
Public patients waiting over three months for treatment can contact the fund directly on 1890 720 820.