07/06/2012

New Report Reveals Hospital Consultation Waiting Times

New figures show that over 800 patients have been waiting four years or more to be seen by a consultant at a hospital outpatient department, after being referred by their family doctor.

According to the HSE's latest performance report the total number of people waiting for an outpatient appointment, inpatient or day care treatment is now over 218,000.

However it is expected that the real figures could be higher as not all hospitals have returned data for this HSE report.

Nationally, over 158,000 patients are waiting since January last year to be seen at an outpatient department.

There are also nearly 60,000 patients waiting for inpatient or day care treatment, of which most are adults.

The hospital responsible for most of the backlog is Waterford Regional, where 570 patients are waiting over four years for orthopaedic care.

That puts the total waiting at over 218,000 patients.

The HSE report also shows that the executive had exceeded its budget by over €145 million by the end of March.

(H)

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