Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland yesterday morning, Professor Tom O’Dowd of Trinity College, Dublin has estimated that there are about 30,000 referral letters from GPs that have not been processed at Tallaght Hospital. Professor O’Dowd is Professor of General Practice and head of the department of Public Health and Primary Care in Trinity College, Dublin.
GPs are considered the primary care providers in the Irish health system and a referral to secondary care is because a GP has detected either symptoms or clinical signs that suggest a serious illness such as cancer or hearth disease.
The problem is not only unopened referral letters but also to letters from family doctors that had not reached consultants.
Professor O’Dowd stated on national radio that the ignored referrals were a “major dereliction of duty” by the hospital that ‘exposed the hospital to long-term legal consequences”.
The hospital is disputing the accusation of that there are excessive numbers of unopened referral letters. However, it has already been confirmed that 3,498 referral letters that had not been reviewed by a consultant in October 2009.
The legal consequences really depend on medical consequences of the delay obtaining secondary care. Many illnesses benefit from early diagnosis so it is inevitable that the ignored referral letters resulted in some dreadful suffering.
If you believe that a referral letter has been ignored, you need to gather the necessary medical evidence and contact a solicitor.