More than 535,000 people were on public hospital waiting lists last month, marking another record in a three-year upward trend.
The numbers waiting for hospital appointments and procedures are up almost 27,000 since last May, when Simon Harris was appointed Minister for Health.
The rate of increase in overall waiting list numbers has slowed, and the number of people waiting for an inpatient procedure for over 15 months, the Government’s targeted maximum waiting time, has fallen slightly.
In contrast, there was a 2,000 jump in the number of outpatients waiting longer than 15 months compared to the previous month.
A record 438,931 patients were waiting for an outpatient appointment at the end of last month, according to the latest monthly data from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).
This is almost 700 up on the previous month.
More than 80,000 of these outpatients have been waiting for an appointment for over a year, up 2,000 in a month. Almost 49,000 have been waiting longer than the 15-month supposed “maximum” waiting time set by the Government.
Responding to the figures, the HSE insisted tackling long waiting times was a “key priority” for the health service. It also pointed out that last year more than 416,000 patients failed to turn up for appointments.
The HSE said outpatient numbers were growing because referrals were increasing. Targeted programmes were being developed initially to address access times in orthopaedics, urology, general surgery and ear, nose and throat/ENT.
The hospitals with the longest waiting lists include University Hospital Galway, at 33,000, the Mater and Beaumont hospitals in Dublin at 27,000, and Cork University Hospital, where 26,000 patients are on the list.
Meanwhile, 79,621 people are waiting for inpatient or day case procedures, an increase of 1,000 on the previous month. There was a drop of 3,000 in the number of patients waiting for longer than a year but a slight increase in those on the list for more than the target maximum of 15 months.
The waiting times for gastrointestinal procedures, for which a separate list exists, continue to show a slight improvement. The GI endoscopy list fell by 700 to 17,984 last month as inroads were made into the backlog of cases.
The reasons for the rise in waiting lists over more than two years are disputed. The Government blames rising demand, with an additional 20,000 procedures carried out this year.
Earlier this year, overcrowding in emergency departments forced the cancellation of non-urgent appointments elsewhere in the health system and contributed to a rise in waiting lists, but this effect should have diminished since the end of the winter.
The Government has promised a number of initiatives to tackle long waiting lists, but most will not get underway in earnest until next year.
