Waiting lists 'urgently' need to be tackled as almost 74,000 awaiting treatment in Cork

CORK politicians have said waiting lists in Cork urgently need to be tackled as almost 74,000 people were waiting for treatment at Cork hospitals last month.

In Cork, a total of 73,892 people were on hospital waiting lists at the end of February, according to the latest National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) figures.

One Cork politician called the statistic “shocking and very worrying”.

Nationally, as of February 23, there were 511,124 people on the adult outpatient waiting lists, 66,988 of whom were waiting for treatment in Cork hospitals.

The highest figure in Cork was at Cork University Hospital (CUH) where there were 31,734 people waiting.

This was followed by the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) with 22,850 people awaiting treatment and the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) where there were 6,184.

On the child outpatient waiting list, 8,558 children were waiting for treatment at Cork hospitals.

Meanwhile, as of February 23, there were 74,713 adults on in-patient/day case waiting lists nationally, 6,904 at Cork hospitals.

Nationally, 9,010 children were on the child inpatient/day case waiting list, 427 in Cork.

Speaking to The Echo, Fine Gael’s spokesperson on health Colm Burke highlighted the urgency of the delivery of the elective hospital in Cork.

“I’m not happy with the way that that’s moving,” he said.

“For instance, we had a meeting with the private hospital groups on Thursday morning. There are 18 different organisations involved in that private hospital group and they have facilities and they can deliver service.

We need to prioritise the building of the elective hospital in Cork and we also need to use existing private facilities that are there.

Deputy Burke also highlighted the growing population as a cause for concern in relation to the delivery of care. 

“There is now an acceptance that the public hospital system can’t cope. We have had a huge increase in population. It’s gone up 60,000 per annum for the last 12 years.

“We also have people living longer and a huge increase in the age profile of people as well. We have about 760,000 over the age of 65. In 2011, it was about 600,000 and the big problem is that by 2030 it’s going to be over a million and therefore they will require access to more healthcare services. We’ve got to fast-track how people can get access to care,” he said.

Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould described the waiting list figures as “shocking and very worrying”.

“I have a man who has had a very serious operation cancelled three times in three years and he has very limited mobility as a result and is in constant pain.

“I’ve had to write to the HSE, the Department of Health, the Minister for Health, and his consultant.

“Originally it was called off because of Covid but it’s not good enough to have a person who is in pain like this, a man in his 70s who is caring for his wife, waiting this long.

Some people have to go to A&E because they’re on a waiting list so long that their conditions deteriorate. What that does then is put more pressure on A&E.

“Almost 74,000 people waiting on hospital treatment in Cork alone and over half a million nationally is shocking.

“You have to think of the pain and the suffering and lack of quality of life for many of those people because they are waiting on a list.” Figures published by the NTPF on Friday showed that 515,280 people on the Active Waiting Lists (IPDC, GI Scope and Outpatients) are waiting longer than the Sláintecare maximum wait times.

The publication of the February waiting list and activity figures follows the launch of the 2023 Waiting List Action Plan on March 7 by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

The 2023 Plan continues the multi-annual approach to addressing waiting lists that commenced in Q1 of 2021 and details 30 actions focused on delivering capacity, reforming scheduled care, and enabling scheduled care reform.

The 2023 Plan will fund the HSE and NTPF to reduce waiting lists by a further 10% this year as well as continue to reduce waiting times towards the Sláintecare recommended targets.