Rise In Long Waits For Medical Appointments In Midwest

Photo (c) ClareFM

The number of patients in the Midwest facing long waits for medical appointments is on the increase.

New figures show an increasing amount of people have been waiting at least a year and a half to be seen on an inpatient and outpatient basis.

CONTINUE READING BELOW

While the recent focus with regards to medical services has largely been on trolley numbers, newly released statistics show how pressures are also increasing elsewhere in the health service.

The figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund do show that the number of patients waiting for an inpatient appointment at University Hospital Limerick has fallen in the past year.

However, the cohort among them waiting at least 18 months is on the up from 108 to 188.

That’s still the second lowest number of any hospital group in Ireland.

There has been strong growth too in the number of patients facing long waits for outpatient appointments.

The number of patients waiting at least 18 months to be seen as an outpatient at University Hospital Limerick has more than doubled to nearly 4,300, while the number for Ennis has increased by over a quarter to 124.

The figures cover the month of February, before the recent spike in Emergency Departments that has seen elective procedures cancelled in a bid to deal with the influx of patients.