ALMOST 178,000 people are on hospital outpatient waiting lists at 30 hospitals across the State, according to the Health Service Executive.
The figures, however, are incomplete, as a number of the largest hospitals have yet to report. The HSE said the number of patients on outpatient waiting lists was likely to rise once these were made available.
Among the hospitals not included in the figures published yesterday are University Hospital Galway, the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick and St Vincent’s hospital, Dublin.
The 30 hospitals that have reported represent about 72 per cent of all outpatients.
These public outpatient waiting lists refer to the length of time it takes for patients to be seen by a consultant after referral by their GP.
The data indicates that more than 10,000 people referred before January 2011 remain on waiting lists and some 316 people referred before then have been waiting more than four years for an appointment.
It is the first time the HSE has published the figures, compiled as part of its Outpatient Data Quality Programme, which was introduced in January of last year in order to capture standardised data on consultant-delivered outpatient services. Data on outpatient waiting lists was only available in the past from individual hospitals under the Freedom of Information Act.
The data shows 167,825 patients referred by GPs to see specialists on or after January 1st, 2011, are still waiting for an appointment.
Some 71 per cent of these (118,964) have been waiting less than six months. St James’s Hospital in Dublin is the only hospital reporting no patient waiting longer than six months.
Tony O’Brien, chief operating officer of the special delivery unit of the Department of Health, which was set up to cut waiting lists, said the report had shone a light on a problem that had existed for a very long time. He admitted, however, that it was “only a partial picture” at present.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, he said Minister for Health Dr James Reilly would shortly set an outer limit for waiting times to ensure that no patient would wait longer than 12 months to be seen.
Regarding the number of patients referred prior to January last year who were still waiting, Mr O’Brien said: “Clearly it’s unacceptable. There’s no debate about that.” Patients waiting more than four years would be the “first priority”.
For the first time, the number of referrals each month in each speciality is now available. Of the 46,241 referrals by GPs in February this year, some 51 per cent of them were in just five specialities. There were 8,804 referrals for general surgery, 5,232 for orthopaedics, 4,061 for ear, nose and throat consultations, 2,798 for ophthalmology and 2,688 for general medicine.
A number of hospitals reported high percentages of non-attendance for outpatient appointments. The highest of these included St John’s Hospital, Limerick, which reported a 58.9 per cent non-attendance among new outpatients.
OUTPATIENT APPOINTMENTS WAITING LISTS
HSE Dublin Mid-Leinster
Tallaght 18,785
Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore 11,228
Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin 9,941
HSE Dublin North East
Beaumont Hospital 13,831
Our Lady of Lourdes, Drogheda 7,323
Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown 6,459
HSE South
Waterford Regional Hospital 15,117
Cork University Hospital 12,387
HSE West
Letterkenny General Hospital 8,592
Sligo General Hospital 6,953