There has been a surge in the number of patients on waiting lists for eighteen months or more at Ennis Hospital and University Hospital Limerick over the course of a year.
The latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund show more than 36,000 patients were waiting to see a consultant at either facility at the end of December.
In all, 36,205 patients were waiting for an inpatient or outpatient appointment at Ennis General or University Hospital Limerick last month.
This represents a rise of 10%, or 3,473 on December 2024.
The latest report from the NTPF also shows the number of adults waiting a year and a half or more at either facility rose by 33% over the course of twelve months to 1,012.
223 of those were awaiting an ear, nose and throat or ophthalmology inpatient appointment at UHL.
256 were waiting the same length of time for an outpatient appointment in Endocrinology at the same facility and 229 a Dermatology Consultant.
While at Ennis General, 256 adults were waiting 18 months or more for an outpatient appointment with a consultant in the discipline of cardiology.
There were 282 children on the waiting list for the same length time at either facility, according to the NTPF figures, up from 169 in December 2024.
135 of those appointments were in paediatric cardiology, 84 in paediatrics and 26 in dermatology.
