There’s more than 4,000 extra people waiting for both inpatient and outpatient appointments at the region’s main hospital than this time last year.
Figures released by the National Treatment Purchase Fund show that at the end of April, over 33,800 people were awaiting appointments at University Hospital Limerick.
Clare FM’s Ben Sweeney reports:
There’s been a surge in the past 12 months in the number of patients awaiting appointments at University Hospital Limerick, with the most notable jump in the numbers waiting more than 18 months.
At the end of April, a total of 33,835 people were on waiting lists for appointments at the Dooradoyle facility.
Perhaps most worryingly was the 63 percent rise in those waiting a year and a half or more.
On the week of April 26th last, 4,901 outpatients were on these long-term waiting lists at UHL, with 223 inpatients in the same boat.
However, Ennis General Hospital fared better, where waits for both inpatient and outpatient dropped by almost 3 percent year-on-year.
