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Waiting Times For MidWest Hospitals Soar In Past Year

Waiting times for hospital appointments in the MidWest have soared over the past year.

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New figures show significant spikes in the number of patients waiting for long periods to inpatient and outpatient appointments, especially at University Hospital Limerick.

While there is often a close scrutiny on trolley numbers in the emergency department at Dooradoyle, these statistics also show a surge in waiting lists for other appointments at the hospital.

In June of last year, throughout the UL Hospitals Group, there were 136 people waiting at least a year for an appointment.

This year, that number has soared by 500% to 815, according to figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

65 of those are waiting at least 18 months to be seen at University Hospital Limerick, with the longest queues in respect of eye appointments, and those for the ear, nose and throat.

Meanwhile, there has been a 61% increase in the number of people waiting at least a year for an outpatients appointment, a number that now stands at 6,100.

Again the majority of these are waiting to be seen at University Hospital Limerick, but 362 are awaiting appointments in Ennis.

Despite the rises, the figures for this region remain lower than the other similar hosptial groups throughout the country.

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