The recent annual report from the HSE underscores its constant failure to meet its intended benchmarks for providing critical access to specific types of cancer treatments, as well as timely access for breast, prostate and lung assessments, and urgent colonoscopies.
Moreover, the HSE’s 2023 target to promptly process patients in the nation’s emergency departments significantly fell short, as evidenced by the national scorecard.
In the previous year, the HSE endeavoured to ensure that 90 per cent of patients receiving crucial radiotherapy would start their treatment within 15 working days of being declared ready by their oncologists. Yet, the annual report indicated that only slightly over 63 per cent were treated in the said timeframe.
An ambition to have 95 per cent of new patients attend prompt access clinics for breast, lung and prostate within the recommended timelines was declared. However, the actual outcome fell short of the target, with less than 80 per cent of patients seen in the prescribed period.
The HSE’s blueprint stated that no patients should wait longer than four weeks for an urgent colonoscopy, yet the report highlighted that a total of 1,266 individuals waited longer than the prescribed four weeks.
In addition, 90 per cent was the set target for adults waiting less than nine months for optional in-patient treatments, nonetheless, the actual figure was less, at 73.6 per cent. For out-patients, the HSE marginally performed better, although it still fell short of its 90 per cent target by nearly 10 per cent.
Along similar lines, the HSE also missed its 90 per cent targets for elective in-patient and day procedures within a nine-month timeframe, with actual outcomes recorded at 63.6 and 69.3 per cent respectively.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that the HSE’s failure to meet its benchmarks wasn’t confined to individual treatments but extended right into the access in the Nation’s Accident and Emergency departments, sometimes by large discrepancies.
The HSE aimed to guarantee that 95 per cent of patients, aged 75 or above, wouldn’t spend more than six hours in an emergency department prior to being admitted or discharged last year. Yet, the report pointed that the actual figure reached was a mere 36.4 per cent.
Last year, almost one in 10 individuals aged over 75 were in emergency departments for more than 24 hours, as noted by the annual report. Overall, 57 per cent of patients were either discharged or admitted within six hours at the emergency departments, falling short of the 70 per cent target set by the HSE.