by Bernie English
THE NUMBER of people waiting for an out-patient appointment at University Hospital Limerick has gone up by more than 500 on last year’s figures, the latest hospital performance report has revealed.
At the end of January this year, there were 11,619 people waiting for an outpatient appointment , two have waited more than four years, one has waited more than three years and 176 have been looking to get an appointment for more than a year, according to the HSE’s monthly report.
This compares to 11,155 people who were waiting at the end of December 2013 for a consultancy-led clinic appointment.
The waiting list for day case treatments and elective treatments has dropped, however, with 3,286 adults waiting for procedures on these lists this year in comparison to 3,404 last year.
The number of children waiting for treatment under the two headings dropped from 235 last December 2013 to 210 this January.
Nationally, the waiting list to see a specialist doubled month-on-month, after the HSE decided to outsource more than 30,000 appointment for patients on public waiting lists last year, resulting in a significant drop in the December figures.
Patients were sent to the Galway Clinic and other private hospitals to reduce the number of people on the long-term waiting list.
Limerick’s University Hospital was the fifth best of all Irish hospitals when it came to the waiting lists for in-patient elective treatment and day procedures.
A spokesperson for the HSE said that there was a huge influx of patients into the hospitals’ Emergency Departments.
“Nationally, there has been a 3 per cent increase in emergency department attendances and a 3 per cent increase in admissions.
‘At times, hospitals need to reduce day services in order to accommodate the increasing demands through the Emergency Department, which leads to a reduction in elective activity”, the spokesperson explained.
