Over 84,000 people waiting for inpatient appointment at end of June, new figures show

Some 84,001 patients were waiting for an appointment for inpatient treatment at the end of June this year, according to the latest public hospital waiting list data published on Friday by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).

598,228 patients were waiting for their first hospital outpatient consultation, while 25,159 patients were waiting to receive an appointment for their GI Endoscopy, the data showed.

The data showed that 30,995 patients have been given a date for their inpatient / daycase or Endoscopy procedure.

97,357 patients are recorded in the “planned procedure” category and 69,308 of these patients have dates in the future or have an appointment.

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These are patients who have already had treatment and require further treatment at a future date (for example. a patient who has had a scope may require surveillance monitoring scopes in the future) and have been assigned dates for treatment.

These dates are determined by a clinician and treatment before these dates would not be appropriate, the NTPF said.

As more patients are initially seen and given a follow-up appointment for ongoing treatment or surveillance, the number of patients on the planned procedure list increases.

55,068 patients are classified as suspended.

Patients who are temporarily unfit or unable to attend due to clinical or personal or social reasons are categorised as suspended.

The HSE attributes higher than anticipated additions to waiting lists to several factors, including post-pandemic pent-up demand, a statement from the Department of Health said.

“Health services internationally, including in the UK for example, are seeing higher additions compared to previous years,” the statement said.

The figures showed that “in common with health services across Europe, we continue to see significantly higher additions to waiting lists than projected”, the Department said.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) warned that inaction by the Government to urgently address the root causes of hospital capacity deficits and consultant shortages will mean the targets set out in its Waiting List Action Plan for 2023 will not be achieved.

The €443 million plan set out to reduce waiting lists for outpatient, inpatient and day case appointments by 10 per cent or 69,000 by the end of the year, compared with the number waiting at the start of 2023.

Six months into 2023 and instead of an expected reduction of around 34,500 people, the latest NTPF figures confirm that 17,165 additional people have in fact been added to these three main waiting lists – a 51,650 shortfall.

IHCA President Professor Robert Landers said the NTPF figures “confirm our fears that without addressing the very obvious shortages of consultants, hospital beds, theatres, diagnostic and other facilities the Government will not address the core problems facing our public hospitals”, he said.

“The fact that so many consultant posts remain vacant should be an unequivocal signal to Government and health service management that the current conditions in our public hospitals do not create an environment in which skilled medical and surgical specialists want to work and which is driving our trained specialists abroad to pursue their careers.”