"Big waiting list" in Roscommon for health procedures

Figures disclosed by the HSE revealed that there are more than 1,600 Roscommon residents currently on waiting lists for hospital procedures.

Separately, there are 231 adults in the county who are on a waiting list for hearing aids, some of whom have to wait for over a year to be seen.

Meanwhile, 214 children from Roscommon are on a paediatric referral list for hearing aids, with a wait time in their case of up to 44 weeks.

The figures were disclosed to Curraghboy councillor Tony Ward at a meeting of the HSE West Regional Forum recently.

Cllr Ward voiced concern about what he said was "a big waiting list for a county the size of Roscommon."

"My question is, how is this backlog going to be dealt with, and how long will this be allowed to drag on?" he said.

"I want the HSE to put the resources in place and employ extra staff to deal with a backlog which has been building up now for the last 12 to 18 months."

The HSE figures showed that 782 people with Roscommon addresses were awaiting procedures at Galway University Hospital as of November 12, 2020.

There were particularly large numbers awaiting orthopaedic, eye, and urological procedures with more 100 people from Roscommon on the Galway hospital waiting list in each of these three categories.

At Roscommon Hospital, 679 county residents were on the waiting list, almost 500 of whom were awaiting general surgery, including endoscopy.

At Portiuncula hospital, meanwhile, there were 169 Roscommon people on the waiting list. Thirteen of these were waiting more than 18 months for gynaecological procedures.

In relation to the waiting times for hearing aid appointments, Cllr Ward was told that the pandemic had increased the number of children and adults in Roscommon who were currently having to wait.

"Due to Covid-19 restrictions, we have not had access to the facilities at Clonbrusk Primary Care Centre (in Athlone) to hold (hearing) clinics since March 2020, and this has had an adverse effect on the waiting list.

"The new facility in Roscommon Primary Care Centre is due to open this month, and we expect to run this service at capacity," said Breda Crehan-Roche of the HSE's Community Healthcare West.

Cllr Ward said he had been contacted by some people whose hearing level had deteriorated to just 20%.

"These are people in their late 70s and 80s, living on their own or with their spouse. In some cases, their husband or wife could be calling them to look for help and they just wouldn't hear them. So that's a huge concern and a worry," he said.

In response to a separate question about waiting times for dental treatment for primary school children in Roscommon, Cllr Ward was informed that 2nd class pupils had a wait time of 22 weeks to be seen, 4th class children would not be seen for assessment until they were in sixth class, and sixth class children had a wait of 16-22 weeks for assessments.

"The problem there is that children could have an issue with teeth and braces, and if they don't get that dealt with at a certain age it could be unsolvable by the time the child gets to 13 or 14," said Cllr Ward.

"I know some parents are having to borrow the money to pay a dentist to carry out whatever procedure needs to be carried out. There are a lot of issues there, and different classes that haven't been seen at all," he commented.