The director of CervicalCheck, the national cancer screening service, has called for a functioning gynaecology service amid increased waiting lists across the country.
Dr Nóirín Russell, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) and clinical director of CervicalCheck, said a functioning gynaecology service is vital to ensure women with symptoms are being seen, while CervicalCheck screens those without symptoms.
Dr Russell was speaking amid increased waiting lists for outpatient and inpatient gynaecology services across the country and increased scrutiny on the impact of long waiting times.
The Dáil recently heard of patients suffering delays in diagnosis and treatment for endometrial cancer at Letterkenny University Hospital.
Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty said a review into the situation there found that of the 123 cases of endometrial cancer over a ten-year period, one in three women experienced a delay in diagnosis and one in five women suffered serious consequences as a result.
Dr Russell told the : “We need to have a functioning benign gynaecology service for women with symptoms so that the Cervical Check programme can provide screening for women without symptoms.”
There were 30,163 people on the gynaecology outpatient waiting list as of August 27 this year, according to the latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).
Almost 60 per cent (17,217) were waiting longer than six months to see a consultant, with over a quarter (7,921) waiting longer than 12 months for an appointment.
Growing waiting lists
The national gynaecology outpatient waiting list has increased by over 10 per cent this year and by more than a quarter in the past five years.
The number of patients waiting more than a year to see a consultant has increased by 236 in 2020 and more than doubled in the past five years.
Among the hospitals with the longest outpatient waiting lists for gynaecology in August were the Rotunda with 3,700 people, including 928 who have been waiting over a year.
Almost 3,000 were on the waiting list at Tallaght Hospital — 57 per cent over 12 months — while a further 2,153 were awaiting appointments at the Coombe, including more than a quarter who were waiting over a year.
Letterkenny General Hospital had 1,698 on its outpatient gynaecology waiting list in August (55 per cent for more than a year).
CUMH, Galway University Hospital, Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise and Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar all had waiting lists of over 1,400. In most cases, hundreds had been waiting over a year.
Meanwhile, there were 4,760 patients on the NTPF inpatient/day case waiting list for gynaecology procedures as of August 27 this year.
Almost two-thirds (3,006) were waiting longer than six months for treatment, with 1,329 (28 per cent) waiting longer than a year.
The national gynaecology inpatient/day case waiting list has increased by 280 in 2020 and by more than a half in the past five years.
The number waiting more than a year to see a consultant has almost doubled this year and increased by more than 1,000 in the past five years.
CUMH boasted the highest waiting list for gynaecology procedures with 665, including almost 50 per cent waiting more than a year.
