The number of adults waiting more than a year-and-a-half for an outpatient appointment in the Midwest has soared by more than 20% in the last year.
The latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund show there are now in excess of 1,000 adults in this region awaiting such a procedure for 18 months or more.
A total of 22,630 adults are on the outpatient waiting list in the Midwest which indicates a reduction of 375 in the space of a year.
Of those waiting for an appointment, 21,650 are in University Hospital Limerick and 980 are in Ennis Hospital.
The specialty with the longest waiting list at UHL is dermatology, with 4,250 waiting for an appointment of this nature, followed by 2,259 for cardiology and 1,652 for vascular surgery.
At Ennis Hospital, 853 adults are on the cardiology waiting list, with 66 awaiting a general medicine procedure and 60 on the list for rheumatology.
903 are waiting 18 months or more for an outpatient appointment at either facility which is up almost 24% from the same time last year.
When it comes to inpatient procedures, a total of 3,246 adults are on the waiting list in the Midwest region – indicating a 2% rise in 12 months.
