No solution seen to waiting lists

Press, 23 August 1984, Page 2

No solution seen to waiting lists

The Canterbury Hospital Board has resigned itself to the fact that it can do nothing to try to cut down the waiting time for outpatient appointments. A meeting of the board heard yesterday that in some areas, such as ophthalmology (eye diseases), and neurology, people with non-urgent complaints had to wait more than six months for an appointment with an outpatient consultant The medical superintend-ent-in-chief, Dr Ross Fairgray, told the meeting that everybody was concerned about the waiting time, but not much could be done about it. Heads 'of departments were vetting letters from general practitioners about

patients, so that urgent cases could be given priority. Professor Don Beaven asked the meeting if some sort of reallocation of resources could be made to relieve the pressure. “People are referred from doctors and have to wait in excess of six months, which is an anxious and worrying time,” he said. “Where there is a long wait the condition may deteriorate and these persons could end up being admitted to the hospital because of the long waiting time.” Mrs June Gardiner said, that the problem had to be faced by the board because of its restrictions in finance. “Unless we remove staff

in some other area we cannot increase staffing in this critical area,” she said. “I don’t see that we can do anything except, if it becomes an impossible situation, make recommendations to the budget and staffing committee.” Dr Fairgray said that most of the outpatient clinics kept one or two slots free for new, urgent consultations. The number of people treated in outpatients had increased over the last few years. “Unless we are given more money or more staffing or we take up the awful alternative of closing wards and shutting down beds, there is nothing we can do about it,” he said. “There is no simple solution at all.”