PL proposes measures to reduce hospital waiting lists

The Labour Party today listed seven measures which it said need to be taken to address the problem of hospital waiting lists.

The spokesmen for social policy and for health, Michael Farrugia and Anthony Zammit, said that the government needed to:

Introduce better hospital management;

Make greater use of operating theatres;

Forge a partnership with hospital employees so that they could work after hours for more operations to be performed;

Raise the number of consultants and specialists, with some of them tasked to operate on those patients on the ‘centralised waiting list’;

Sub-contract part of the waiting lists to private hospitals, since Mater Dei Hospital has 100 fewer beds than St Luke’s;

Provide an assurance to all those on waiting lists that their operation would be performed within a defined period;

Carry out a medical audit and ensure that all patients have a proper follow-up service.

The proposals were made in the wake of a statement issued last week by the Ombudsman, Joseph Said Pullicino, who called for fair and transparent management of hospital waiting lists.

They insisted that if was the government’s responsibility to take the necessary measures for the waiting lists to be reduced.