The number of people waiting at least 18 months for an appointment at the region’s main hospital has risen by 79% over the past year.
The latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund has confirmed a rise in waiting lists at University Hospital Limerick in the wake of Storm Emma.
But numbers waiting the same length of time at Ennis General Hospital have fallen.
The impact of Storm Emma, coupled with a prolonged flu season, led to record numbers on trolleys in March, with 80 patients waiting for a bed at University Hospital Limerick on the 12th of the month.
Inpatient and outpatient appointments were cancelled at all hospitals for a time to deal with this overcrowding crisis.
But pressures remain here too, with new figures from the NTPF showing waiting lists for these appointments surged in March, with over 33,500 people waiting for inpatient or outpatient appointments at University Hospital Limerick alone.
That’s a rise of over 600 on February’s figure and almost 4,400 more than the same month last year.
The number waiting a long time for these appointments has soared to nearly 5,000, 79% higher than at the same time last year.
Interestingly, at Ennis General Hospital, the number on waiting lists fell slightly last month, with the number of people on waiting lists there down on this time last year.
Last week the government published an action plan which aimed to reduce the number of patients waiting for in-patient or day case treatment by 20,000 this year.
