No end to record numbers waiting to see a hospital consultant, as patients waiting spirals to 564,829

• Since start of the year an average of almost 7,000 additional patients each month have joined hospital waiting lists
• Talks between Minister Harris and consultant representative bodies now critical

Dr Donal O’Hanlon, IHCA President “the numbers waiting to see a hospital consultant continue to grow, by an average almost 7,000 new patients each month in 2019. The consultant recruitment and retention crisis is a key factor in the long wait times patients now face. We need to end this crisis. To do so, Minister for Health, Simon Harris, must honour his commitment to begin talks with consultant representative bodies in September.”

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has said that the deterioration in the number of people on waiting lists for hospital appointments means that Ireland continues to have the worst waiting times in Europe.

Dr Donal O’Hanlon, IHCA President, said that based on today’s NTPF data a record 564,829 people were awaiting a hospital outpatient appointment at the end of July.

This is an increase of 53,154 patients (10.4%) since this time last year and an increase of 4,578 in a month and by 48,667 since the start of 2019. The latter amounts to an average of almost 7,000 additional patients each month (6,952) since the start of 2019.

The number waiting over 12 months for an outpatient appointment increased by 22,580 since the start of 2019.

In the past five years the numbers waiting have increased by 204,076 (57%). The increase has occurred at a time when there are more than 500 permanent consultant posts that cannot be filled because of the Government’s inaction.

The inpatients waiting are also unacceptable at 68,807, up 27% in 5 years.

Dr O’Hanlon said that Ireland is consistently singled out as having the worst waiting lists in Europe, and that this is never going to improve without the required number of hospital consultants.

Ireland has the lowest number of medical specialists on a population basis in the EU, with half or less the EU average in many specialties. Dr O’Hanlon said it is not surprising that the outpatient waiting lists are greatest in those specialties with the greatest shortage of consultants or where vacant posts are more prevalent, such as in Dermatology, ENT or Orthopaedics.

The IHCA President added it is also unacceptable that there are currently 46,949 children across Ireland waiting to see a paediatrician for an outpatient appointment in the three Dublin hospitals that make up Children’s Health Ireland.

Dr Donal O’Hanlon, IHCA President “the numbers waiting to see a hospital consultant continue to grow, by an average of almost 7,000 new patients each month since the start of this year. Looking at what has happened over the past five years the numbers are even more stark, where number of patients waiting have grown by almost 200,000 over that time.

“The consultant recruitment and retention crisis, with one in five permanent consultant posts now unfilled is a key factor in the long wait times patients face. We need to end this crisis. To do so, Minister for Health, Simon Harris, must honour his commitment to begin talks with consultant representative bodies in September.”

 Ends

Contact:

Amanda Glancy, PR360, 087 2273108/ 01 637 1777, email amanda@pr350.ie