The number of patients waiting at least one year for a for an outpatient appointment in the MidWest has soared by over 600% since the start of the year.
At the end of August, 23,420 patients were waiting for outpatient appointments in the UL Hospitals Group.
Of these, 1,800 were waiting at least one year and that is up from just 259 in January.
The total number of people in queues has also gone up by nearly a quarter in the same timeframe.
More than half of the increase relates to appointments at University Hospital Limerick, while the number of patients waiting to be seen in Ennis has gone up by around 300 this year.
The figures are contained in a new performance report, published by the HSE, which also shows that the financial situation at University Hospital Limerick has deteriorated further.
The region's main hospital was 19.7 million over budget by the end of August, and that this was contributing to an overall overspend of 327 million across the HSE.
Ennis General Hospital is under budget by nearly 200 thousand euro.
The HSE issued a Statement on the matter this evening: UL Hospitals expresses regret that some patients are waiting extended times for Outpatient appointments. We are actively working with all Specialties across the Group to ensure that waiting time targets are met. We are also working to improve our processes by centralising outpatient referrals and validating our waiting list as per the National Programme.
