Over 260 Donegal patients waiting over a year for cardiology appointments

Over 260 people in Donegal have been waiting for more than a year for a cardiology outpatient appointment.

While the HSE insists that it is making continued improvements in the area of cardiology services, a Donegal County Councillor says that the numbers on the waiting list “are far too high”.

Independent Councillor Declan Meehan brought the issue to the table at a Regional Health Forum meeting this week.

Following a query by the Milford-based representative, the HSE confirmed that 255 people are waiting for 12-15 months on a cardiology outpatient appointment.

Nine people are waiting for 15-18 months with 620 people waiting for less than three months, 459 people having a 3-6-month wait, 504 people waiting between 6-9 months and 418 patients having a 9-12-month wait.

“There are huge numbers of people waiting on appointments for cardiology,” Councillor Meehan said,

“We need to get answers here. We have two full-time consultants in Letterkenny University Hospital dealing with cardiology. They have larger waiting lists than in Galway.

“The same system is not being rolled out in LUH. With fewer resources in LUH and a larger waiting list, people are waiting a very long time. What additional measures can and should be taken to drive waiting times down?”

Dermot Monaghan, the Integrated Healthcare Area Manager for Donegal, said that the HSE will work with community hubs where people can be seen without a hospital setting.

Councillor Meehan asked if another consultant is recruited to LUH, if trainees can be taken on.

“The whole focus is to get specialities with suitable trainees at the higher level so we can bring the workload for consultants down,” Mr Monaghan said.

In a written reply to Councillor Meehan, Ms Ann Cosgrove, the interim CEO of the Saolta University Health Care Group, said: “We have run a number of additional evening clinics during the year and have provided access to 365 patients this year to date by year end, we expect it to be over 500 by year end. We are also running initiatives for cardiac diagnostics which also impacts how quickly patients can be assessed in outpatients.”

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Ms Cosgrove said that “significant volumes” of people are now being treated through the cardiology community hub.

She added: “As a result of the work of our cardiology consultant lead for the cardiology community hub and colleagues have been doing around triage, sign-posting and validation we have seen reductions in demand for acute services and subsequently a marked reduction in the number of patients waiting to be seen, this was 2308 patients waiting at end of 2023 and is now 1739.”