Northern Ireland

6,000 gastro patients face staggering NHS delays

Dr Michael McKenna has criticised the number of patients on gastroenterology waiting lists
Dr Michael McKenna has criticised the number of patients on gastroenterology waiting lists Dr Michael McKenna has criticised the number of patients on gastroenterology waiting lists

NORTHERN Ireland's biggest health trust has confirmed that around 6,000 gastroenterology patients are on its waiting lists - with delays of up to 98 weeks for a first appointment.

The Irish News has learned that consultant gastroenterologists at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust are only now seeing 'routine' patients referred by their GPs back in October 2013.

Gastroenterology deals with diseases of the digestive system as well as the liver, pancreas and biliary tract.

Patients suffering from a wide range of illnesses including inflammatory bowel disease, coeliac disease and severe stomach conditions are among those affected.

Colon cancer is the most common cancer within the speciality followed by gullet and pancreatic cancers.

Waiting lists in Northern Ireland are now among the worst in Europe, with one in five of the population facing delays.

A Belfast GP who referred a gastroenterolgoy patient in June 2014 - but who has just learned he must wait until mid-2016 for a first appointment with a specialist – described the latest figures as "indefensible".

Dr Michael McKenna has written to the Belfast Trust to expedite the case and voiced concerns that a minority of patients classed as routine could have serious underlying conditions.

In May, it emerged that delays for orthopaedic patients requiring back operations in the same trust had escalated to 76 weeks.

"The reality is that there is now a two-year wait for a first appointment with a consultant followed by a further eight-month delay for an investigative endoscopy procedure. This means it could be potentially be close to three years before treatment commences," Dr McKenna said.

"My GP colleagues in England are incredulous at what is going on here. Their target for first outpatient appointments is 13 weeks – if they are in breach of that they are jumping up and down.

"What is also concerning is that many of my patients are becoming 'normalised' to these waiting times, which are shocking."

A spokesman for the Belfast Trust confirmed that 4,195 people are facing delays for their first gastroentrology outpatient appointment - and the longest wait is a staggering 98 weeks.

A further 1,800 are enduring delays for investigative procedures, known as endoscopies - with some facing 43-week waits.

In a statement, the trust referred to a spike in demand for first appointments with a specialist.

"Demand for new gastroenterology appointments has significantly increased over the past four years, growing from 5,798 new referrals in 2011/12 to approximately 8,000 new referrals during 2014/15.

"All referrals are triaged by a consultant gastroenterologist who allocates appointments according to clinical priority contained in referrals by GPs. The classification of priority is red flag (suspected cancer), urgent and routines.

"The trust also operates a straight to test pathway if required where upon triage of a referral, the patient bypasses the outpatient appointment and goes straight to scope to minimise delays."

The trust has been approved funding by the Health and Social Care Board to recruit two new consultants in the field – but these posts will not be filled until the "last quarter of 2015/16" (between January and March next year).

Additional endoscopy clinics are also to be introduced at weekends to tackle the backlog. These will begin next month and run to next January.

But Dr McKenna questioned whether the big increase in caseloads had resulted from "double-counting" following the introduction of a regional bowel screening programme four years ago for men and woman aged between 60 and 74.

"The problem is that we are in a situation where health trusts had to deliver efficiencies which appear to be impacting on service delivery."