MEASURES to reduce waiting lists should not be politically driven, Health Minister David Anderson told the House of Keys.
Mr Anderson was replying to series of questions from Laurence Skelly (Rushen) who asked when lists would be cut to an ‘acceptable level’.
He told MHKs: ‘We are making significant progress in certain areas, but I do admit we are struggling in other areas and might struggle for some time.’
Mr Skelly suggested a maximum time limit should be imposed.
But the Health Minister insisted: ‘This should not be politically driven, it should be clinically driven.’
He said it was not appropriate to set targets for all treatments and that waiting time targets set in the UK didn’t always reflect clinical need and ‘seemed more related to satisfying political needs, which is why in many areas these targets are being removed’.
Mr Anderson told the Keys that waiting lists varied and that not all were excessive and many were already at an acceptable level.
But he added: ‘Resources are finite and we have to balance that resource against the demands.’
He said the department planned to publish waiting list date on a regular basis ‘once we are happy that the data is completely accurate’.
In the meantime, all GPs were provided with indicative lists to help their decision when referring a patient to the hospital.
MHKs heard that urgent breast surgery patients would be seen within one week and a routine referral would be seen with two weeks.
An orthopaedic urgent referral would be seen within two weeks and a routine referral within 30 weeks.
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