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WAITING LISTS FOR hospital appointments in Ireland rose significantly last month, with an extra 4,446 waiting for their first hospital outpatient consultation.
The total number of patients waiting for their first outpatient consultation at the end of May was 556,411.
A further 68,765 patients were waiting for an appointment for their inpatient or day case treatment.
The latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) also shows that 22,113 patients were waiting to receive an appointment for their GI Endoscopy.
Fianna Fáil’s health spokesperson Stephen Donnelly has hit out at the government over the latest figures.
“The Minister for Health said he hoped to stabilise outpatient waiting lists during 2019. He didn’t say what this meant but I doubt that anyone could define it as an increase of almost 8% in five months,” Donnelly said.
The words ‘scandal’ or ‘disgrace’ can be overused in politics, but I think they are the only words we can use in this situation. We have to keep in mind too that when these people finally see a consultant they may also have to wait a long time for any necessary treatment.
Data published by the NTPF shows that 29,766 people have been given a date for their inpatient/day case or endoscopy procedure.
78,177 patients are also recorded in the planned procedure category and 64,298 of these patients have indicative dates in the future or have an appointment.
These are patients who have already had treatment and require further treatment at a future date and have been assigned indicative dates for treatment.
These indicative dates are determined by a clinician and treatment before these dates would not be appropriate, according to the NTPF. As more patients are initially seen and given a follow-up appointment for ongoing treatment or surveillance the number of patients on the planned procedure list increases.
“The fall in the inpatient/day case waiting list is welcome,” Donnelly said.
“However, I am concerned that too many people are still waiting too long for treatment with 10,424 waiting over a year,” he said.
Ah this is where I’m going wrong on tinder. Must use less jargon.
Please, please, think of the lawyers. If everything is in plain English, how will they contest it.
A jocose comment but a serious point all the same. Legal documentation in particular has to be very exact and this can often lead to very tortuous wording. It’s to ensure that there is minimal room for misinterpretation. Such documentation aside however it makes perfect sense for the vast bulk of public information to be in plain English.
I agree, Tertullian but it’s also true that lawyers are engaged to draw up documentation that is deliberately confusing to the man in the street. This is often included in Ts&Cs and fine print, the latter being another thing that should be outlawed.
It’s more to the point that our education system should be castigated for producing illiterate school leavers.
This is the proverbial tail trying to wag the dog!
Easy on the jargon
Translating all EU documents into Irish – at enormous cost – is a bigger mistake. Nobody reads them, but the dead language people insist on it…
Although, to a degree, I support the ‘dead language’ – the cost is enormous and perverse. Insisting on the useless translation of EU documents into Irish is madness….
How about spending the money on making forms easier in English rather than spending money to translate them to Irish.
VAT and tax forms are a pain in the hole.
The Catholic Church should take note – they think that spouting old English makes a difference.
I thought they speak Spanish or something.
Seriously? This is the stupidest thing I’ve seen on here we shouldn’t have to pander to the lazy and less intelligent. Like every thing else if you don’t understand then go find out what it means heaven forbid that people do a bit of work or learn something
Also both those statements are not the same the “jargon” one also covers delivery and any other debts secured on the goods
It’s not pandering to lazy and less intelligent. By making forms complicated we have to guess, fill them in wrong or hire people to fill them in for us.
Try registering a business in CRO. It’s possible but a lot of the questions need you to ask for help. Obviously registering a business shouldn’t be done lightly but some of the questions are obtuse.
Where possible plain English as shown in the example in the article can reduce paragraphs so saving paper and time taken to read contracts, etc.
Why is the NALA petition form in German, should it not be as the article states in plain English.
I wonder if they deliberately make the wording complicated ? These forms are obviously drawn up by the legal department and should be translated into English-as- she-is-spoken so we don’t all need law degrees to understand them.
They should just have less forms in this country full stop. I just returned after a couple of years abroad and tried opening a bank account in the same AIB branch (convienance) that I had an account in since they came into school in 6th class and gave us all one to put our confirmation money in. I got asked all sorts of shite, same with the Driving License, Tax Office, Car Insurance. Q1 provide a utility bill dated in the last 3 months. A. I dont have one R. Tough Rant Over
Let’s just dumb down everything for generation text speak.Is dat alri wit every1? Sud b Gr8. Or just learn f&&king English! It’s a beautiful language.
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