Recognising that the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, is a man of action I hope he will do something about Tralee Hospital. What is happening there is an absolute disgrace. I know it is not the Minister's fault but something has gone wrong with the level of staffing and resources. Last week we received the figures for public in-patient waiting lists. For example, from March 1997 to December 1999, the increase of those on the waiting list was 132%. It was 204% in 1997 and it has increased to 475%. The hospital is being forced to have such a long waiting list delay because it is under-resourced.
Recently, I wrote to Tralee Hospital concerning a woman who was having major difficulties with varicose veins, a common enough problem, which was affecting her work and mobility. I received this response from the surgeon in the hospital, which sums up the whole situation:
Dear Jimmy,
Thank you for the copy of your patient's letter and the GP's letter. I note that this lady has varicose veins. Unfortunately, this is a non-urgent condition and she is not likely to be seen in this hospital for five years. At present there are over 4,500 patients waiting to be seen in the surgical out-patients' clinic. Many of these have malignant conditions and we will not discover which of these have malignant conditions until we actually see them. As of today there are people waiting from 1992 to be seen in the hospital. At present the surgical out-patients' clinic is filled to capacity. We see more new patients in each surgical out-patients' clinic than any other surgical department in the country. Because of the continual refusal of the health board to provide us with sufficient staff and resources this situation is unlikely to change until the Southern Health Board and the Department of Health decides that it needs to be changed.
The Minister has a major responsibility as regards this situation. The Kerryman ran this article on its front page last week and there is major concern in the county about hospital waiting lists. People who have medical complaints are afraid that by the time they will be seen as public patients it will be too late for them. I have knowledge of an instance where a letter calling a woman to a medical appointment was sent to the person one year after she had died. I am afraid that by the time some people are called they will not be around because they will have passed on.
In its explanation to the Kerryman, the Southern Health Board disputed the figures for waiting lists, stating:
This arises because this list, which was built up over the past eight years, is currently being validated and many of the people on this list will have been seen either through the accident and emergency department in Tralee General Hospital, in another hospital or may no longer need treatment.
I agree with them on the latter point, because the people concerned are probably dead. The health board spokesman insisted that people on the list were non-urgent cases and that all urgent cases are seen immediately. That totally conflicts with what a reputable surgeon said in his response to me.
According to the Southern Health Board, Tralee General Hospital has two general surgeons who dealt with over 6,900 patients in their surgical out-patients' clinic in 1999. If they dealt with that number of people I cannot see how there could be such a waiting list. Obviously, therefore, that is not accurate.
There is a problem in Tralee Hospital and I would advise the Minister to visit the facility. The Minister is a man of action and I know he will take on the problem. Since 1997, the increase in the in-patients' waiting list at Cork University Hospital, for example, has been only 5% compared to 135% in Kerry. Obviously, there is not the same problem in Cork hospitals as in Kerry. We are being victimised because we are lumped in yet again with Cork for our medical services. Something is radically wrong.
