A man with a brain condition was offered a hospital appointment SIX YEARS into the future.
Management at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin sent the appointment letter to Mathias Kausch for a procedure in its neurology department for January 2024.
Mr Kausch, 49, told the Irish Mirror that “the situation is farcical".
“It looks like somebody is sending out false appointments I think, if you look at the letter, it’s with nobody, it’s at an obscure time, it just doesn’t make sense," he added.
A spokesman for the hospital said that the letter offering an appointment at 9am on January 1, 2024 was a mistake.
But Mr Kausch said that letters like this could cause major stress for patients.
The German national, who has lived here for nine years, said he suspects there may be many more like him receiving distressing letters like this, and that when they receive them they might be falsely removed from waiting lists.
He contacted Labour Party leader, Brendan Howlin, about the huge wait the letter said he was due to face - and Mr Howlin raised the issue on the floor of the Dáil with the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar.
Mr Kausch has what he described as a “relatively minor neurological issue".
He continued: “Technically, I’m not on the waiting list anymore now, I’ve received an appointment to see a consultant - some consultant - even if it is for six year’s time or is a mistake, so that reduces the list of us waiting for an appointment.
“I suppose I’m in the fortunate situation where I may be able to wait, but there are others for whom delays might be a very serious thing for them,” he added.
Mr Howlin said in the Dáil that a letter like this was “almost taking the proverbial” and that it was made worse in the next line of the letter when it asked the patient to bring his letter with him on appointment day, or ring ahead to cancel if he couldn’t make it.
Mr Varadkar replied that he believed the letter was an error.
A spokeswoman for St Vincent’s Hospital said: “Appointments for St Vincent’s Neurology Department are issued to patients six – eight weeks in advance of their appointment date.
“The letter referred to by Deputy Howlin was issued with an incorrect date due to a systems error.
“This has now been corrected and should not happen again.
“A new appointment will be scheduled with the affected patient.”