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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY OF ST. PETER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 19th FEBRUARY 2013
Question
Could the Minister advise if the current length of waiting lists to see hospital consultants include preliminary lists to get on to waiting lists?
Answer
The current system in operation has a single waiting list, per Consultant/specialty.
When a GP sends a referral for a consultant outpatient appointment it will:-
- Be logged onto the patient administration system and the waiting time clock begins
- Be given to the Consultant to grade as urgent or routine
- Urgent referrals will then be sent an appointment straight away
- Routine referrals to specialties with short waits will be sent an appointment straight away
- Routine referrals to specialties with a routine wait greater than 8 weeks will be sent an acknowledgement and then an appointment will be sent closer to the time of the actual appointment. Some clerks refer to this as the pending or preliminary list'
- On occasion further information may be sought from the GP or patient but this is not the
case for the vast majority of referrals
Clinics are not booked more than 6-8 weeks in advance to prevent cancellations and re-booking as Consultants are required to give 6-8 weeks notice of leave.
The calculation of the time waited by patients is the same for all and starts with the receipt of the referral and the entering of that referral onto our patient administration system.
There are no secondary lists or hidden waits.