70 neurology patients (100%) in Western Trust waited over a year for hospital treatment

A new audit office report has confirmed 100 per cent of patients with neurological conditions in the Western Trust were waiting more than 52 weeks for inpatient or day case treatment. This was the highest percentage of any health authority area in the North.

Neurological conditions stem from the brain and central nervous system and include epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, migraine, headache disorders, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and a range of other conditions.

The ‘Tackling Waiting Lists’ report looked at the situation across the North and found demand variance between Trusts across specialisms and that the Western Trust had the longest waits for neurology.

“The very long waiting times across all the main elective specialisms further underlines the range and scale of difficulties facing stakeholders.

"The Department and trusts should review the key causal factors influencing outcomes across the various elective specialisms and assess if action plans in place to address these need to be radically strengthened.

"Waiting list pressures are currently particularly acute for Neurology, Dermatology, ENT and General Surgery (initial outpatient appointments) and Ear, Nose and Throat, Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, and General Surgery (hospital admission),” the report states.

The audit office reports that there have been ‘huge increases in waiting times at the overall NI level since 2014’ and that this shows ‘how seriously patient needs have not been met’.

There have, however, been ‘some marginal improvements for lengthy hospital admission and diagnostic test waits in 2023’.

“The degree to which the targets have been reduced and then missed calls into question their ongoing purpose and relevance. The Department and HSC trusts now face immense challenges in trying to address the very concerning situation,” the report states.

In contrast to the long neurology waits, the Western Trust had the best performance of any Trust within the urology specialism.

Only 42 per cent of urology patients (1,037 people) in the Western Trust waited more than a year compared with 59 per cent in Belfast (2,215 patients).

Referring to the deterioration in waiting lists generally since 2014, Comptroller and Auditor General, Dorinnia Carville, said: “Unless and until a longer-term, sustainable funding framework to enable health service transformation is established, the Department will likely have to address the most pressing clinical waits through available short-term funding.

"This approach is totally unsuitable and almost certainly stores up huge problems for the future.

“The Department and the wider health and social care sector must continue to plan how any additional resources, which might become available, can be used to maximum effect and successfully drive transformation.”

The Department of Health welcomed the report and said it ‘accurately highlights what is required to turn the current unacceptable situation around’.

In a statement DoH said: “This involves long-term investment and an ongoing drive to develop dedicated elective care centres in NI.

“The Department is clear that budgetary pressures and uncertainty have been a major impediment to elective care provision.”

DoH noted that the report underlines the importance of establishing a network of dedicated elective care centres across the North.

“This is a central component of the Department’s approach and important progress is being made.”

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