Northern Ireland’s Commissioner for Older People has been granted permission to intervene in a High Court action over hospital waiting lists.
Eddie Lynch will be allowed to make written submissions in support of a challenge mounted by 77-year-old Belfast woman May Kitchen.
Mrs Kitchen, a retired nurse, paid privately for cataract surgery amid fears she would lose her sight waiting for treatment through the NHS.
She has issued judicial review proceedings against the Department of Health, the Belfast Trust and the Health and Social Care Board, in which she claims the extent of the delay in providing the treatment was unlawful.
Her case is listed for hearing later this month alongside a similar challenge by Eileen Wilson (47), who has sought a consultation about her suspected multiple sclerosis since 2017.
Lawyers for both women allege failures to meet the minimum legal standards in the running of a health service and breaches of their human rights.
Despite objections to Mr Lynch’s application, a High Court judge granted leave to him to intervene by lodging written submissions.
Mrs Kitchen’s solicitor, Ciaran O’Hare, welcomed the decision to allow the commissioner to become involved in her case.
“She is of the view that input from the Commissioner for Older People will only be of benefit to these proceedings,” he said.
Mrs Kitchen, who lives alone, was diagnosed with cataracts six years ago. She underwent private treatment after being told the waiting list for surgery was 42 months, according to her lawyers.
“Vulnerable and older people are probably the group worst affected by our hospital waiting list crisis,” Mr O’Hare said. “My client instructs that she simply feels as if she is a number and not a person.
“Mrs Kitchen worked as a nurse for some 40 years and says that she has never seen our health system in such a dire state.”
Increasing complaints
Mr Lynch said he sought intervenor status in the case after receiving an increasing number of complaints from older people over the past five years about lengthy hospital waiting times.
“This issue is going to become more problematic due to the ageing population and as individuals become older, their health needs become more complex,” he said.
“These are people who, very often, have worked and contributed to society their whole lives and whose quality of life in latter years becomes intolerable due to the impact of the wait for medical care.”
Mr Lynch said he understood that a “complex mix of reasons” was contributing to the pressures facing Northern Ireland’s health and social care systems.
However, he said older people were disproportionately affected and that waiting prolonged periods for appointments could be hugely detrimental.
“It is simply not acceptable that any older person should be waiting this length of time for surgery to improve their quality of life,” he said, adding that the issue of hospital waiting lists had been resistant to political and policy changes despite several reviews of the health and social care system.