There are almost 50,000 adults and children waiting for a hospital appointment in the MidWest.
The latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase fund show that as of July more than 5,200 children need to see a consultant at University Hospital Limerick or Ennis Hospital.
Overall, there are 47,429 adults and children waiting on an outpatient or inpatient appointment in the MidWest.
This is an 11% drop on the over 53,000 people who were waiting for an appointment last July.
However, it’s a less than 1% decrease on the numbers waiting to be seen in June.
Almost 96% of those on the hospital waiting list in the region are for University Hospital Limerick.
Almost 5,000 children are waiting for an outpatient appointment at UHL, with 1,705 of those waiting to see an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist.
Of the over 38,000 adults in need of an outpatient appointment at the region’s main hospital, more than 5,600 are also waiting to see an ENT.
At Ennis Hospital, cardiology outpatient appointments are in the highest demand, with almost 50% of adult patients waiting to see a heart specialist.
Of the 5,233 children waiting on an inpatient or outpatient appointment in the MidWest, almost a third have been waiting more than 18 months.
It comes amid calls from the Irish Patient’s Association for a special taskforce to be established to tackle excessive hospital waiting lists across the country.
