Patients ‘die waiting’, doctor claims

Lives are being lost because waiting lists for heart problems are getting longer and the service in Wales is out-dated, a cardiologist has claimed.

A British Cardiac Society working group is to look at claims that Wales is lagging behind England. A leading Welsh cardiologist, who will represent Wales on that group, has told BBC Wales his waiting lists are increasing. Health Minister Jane Hutt said an increase in screening had identified more people who needed treatment. Dr Liam Penny said that two years after a UK-wide framework was established – setting a waiting time target of three months for patient investigation – there has been little progress. Dr Penny, a cardiologist at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, said that many of his patients are waiting up to two years just to get on the waiting list for surgery and the problem is getting worse. Patients in some areas of London, on the other hand, wait just a matter of weeks for the cardiologist investigation needed to get on the list for surgery, he said. The biggest problems we face are our very long waiting lists,” Dr Penny said. I think there is no doubt that the system we run at the moment has failed individual patients Dr Clive Weston “To get on the waiting list for surgery, patients will have waited at least two years. “That’s not fair. Indeed the Welsh assembly advice to us is that patients should be investigated in less than three months. “That target seems to be as elusive as ever and, in fact, we see our waiting lists growing. “According to the British Cardiac Society, in order to implement the government’s national service framework, which was set two years ago, we need 165 cardiologists in Wales. “At the moment there are only around 45, and only 20 are full-time. “In England this target has been achieved by and large and patients are being treated within months.” Dr Clive Weston, a consultant cardiologist at Singleton Hospital, Swansea, said lengthening waiting lists were a cause for concern to many cardiologists. He added: “It’s the most glaring problem we have these days, it’s the worry that we’re sitting on patients who should have been sorted out. “My waiting times have almost tripled over seven years. “It’s the cause of a lot of heartache amongst me and my colleagues. “To see the waiting lists going up is an indication that we’re drowning. ‘Failed patients’ “I think there is no doubt that the system we run at the moment has failed individual patients. “Failures in the sense that on my six-month waiting list of patients that I have not even seen yet, there have been patients who have been admitted as an emergency with a heart attack.” Dr Penny said the situation in England showed that improvements were possible in the Welsh NHS. “There isn’t any simple solution and it won’t happen overnight,” he added. “But it has to improve and it can be improved, as the Department of Health in England has shown. “People are struggling with severe symptoms of heart disease for years, all for the sake of seeing a cardiologist and being treated in a modern way.” Jane Hutt contested Dr Weston’s claim that waiting times for a first appointment had tripled, saying assembly figures did not support that. She told BBC Radio Wales prevention and screening were a central plank of dealing with heart disease. “Treatment is as a result of diagnosis. Two years ago there were over 600 people waiting for these all important diagnostic tests. “Now nobody is waiting over six months for them. “That means there are more people coming through needing heart surgery.” She said 4,000 people in south Wales valley communities had received screening to detect any heart problems. According to the British Cardiac Society, recruitment of cardiac specialists in Wales is a major problem. Eight of the last nine trainee cardiologists found work in England, despite as many as 10 vacancies being on offer in Wales. On Friday the society sets up its working group to look at regional variations in cardiac services throughout UK. It hopes to report with recommendations by the end of the year.(Source: BBC News: April 2004)