Almost 50,000 people were on waiting lists to see a consultant across the MidWest last month.
While, the numbers waiting on either inpatient or outpatient appointments has risen by 5,300 since the beginning of the pandemic.
47,251 people were waiting on both inpatient and outpatient appointments at University Hospital Limerick and Ennis General Hospital this October.
Almost 20,000 of those have been waiting for over 18 months.
This figure has been exacerbated by the impact of the pandemic, with nearly 8,500 fewer people waiting this length of time for an appointment in March 2020, when restrictions were first introduced.
The region’s main hospital has seen a 15% increase in the number of patients in need of outpatient appointments last month in comparison to the beginning of the pandemic.
The number waiting more than 18 months for an outpatient appointment has almost doubled in that timeframe – with 18,604 people in need of care at University Hospital Limerick.
At Ennis General Hospital, the amount waiting more than a year and a half for an outpatient appointment jumped by almost 89% since March of last year.
Only 359 fewer people are waiting for care at the region’s hospitals in October in comparison to the month prior, meaning the extended delay to patient waiting times seen since the onset of the pandemic is still a long way from being reversed.
