There’s been an 8% reduction in the numbers of people waiting to see a consultant at Midwest hospitals since the beginning of the year.
The latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund show, however, that there was still more than 45,000 people on waiting lists for inpatient or outpatient appointments at the end of May.
Waiting lists at Ennis General Hospital and University Hospital Limerick appear to have been reducing since the beginning of the year, with 45,376 people waiting for either inpatient or outpatient appointments at the end of May.
That’s a drop of more than 4,200 overall since January.
The numbers waiting long periods still remained high though, with 5,907 people waiting up to a year and a half to see a consultant and 18,724 waiting 18 months or more.
At a local meeting with local representatives in recent months, the UL Hospitals Group committed to reducing numbers on waiting lists, and ongoing efforts appear to have been working.
However the impact of the HSE’s Cyber attack, which led to ongoing disruption to hospital services from Mid-May onwards, could be evident once figures for June are released in the coming weeks.
