More than 85,000 on hospital waiting lists in Cork

CORK TD Thomas Gould has called on the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and the HSE to come up with a plan to curtail the increasing number of people waiting for hospital treatment in Cork.

Speaking following the publishing of the latest National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) waiting list figures, which showed that 85,784 people are on waiting lists across Cork hospitals, the Sinn Féin TD said a plan is needed to reduce the waiting lists.

A total of 76,121 adults and 9,663 children were on waiting lists at Cork hospitals at the end of July, according to the latest NTPF figures.

The figures represent an increase of 1,262 in the number of people waiting at Cork hospitals since June 29, when a total of 84,522 were on waiting lists, including 74,958 adults and 9,564 children.

Outpatient Waiting Lists

Nationally, as of July 27, there were 515,521 people on adult outpatient waiting lists, 69,113 of whom were waiting for an appointment in Cork hospitals, an increase of 1,186 people since June 29 when 67,927 people were waiting for an appointment in Cork.

The highest figure in Cork was at Cork University Hospital (CUH) where there were 31,309 adults awaiting an outpatient appointment, an increase in the number of people awaiting outpatient care at the hospital since May when 31,134 adults were awaiting treatment.

This was followed by the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) where there were a total of 24,539 people awaiting an appointment, and the Mercy University Hospital (MUH) where there were 6,191.

On the child outpatient waiting list, there were a total of 9,134 children waiting for an appointment at Cork hospitals at the end of July.

The highest number of children on waiting lists in Cork was at CUH where 5,524 children were awaiting treatment as of July 27, followed by SIVUH which had 2,806 children waiting for an outpatient appointment.

Inpatient Waiting Lists

Meanwhile, as of July 27 there were 73,400 adults on inpatient/day case waiting lists nationally, a decrease in the number of adults on inpatient waiting lists in June when 74,196 adults were awaiting treatment.

In Cork, there were 7,008 people on inpatient waiting lists.

Of these, the highest number awaiting treatment in Cork was at the SIVUH where 3,514 people were waiting for treatment.

Nationally, there were 9,733 children on the child inpatient/day case waiting list, of whom 529 were waiting for treatment at Cork hospitals.

Other findings from the waiting list figures showed that Mallow General Hospital have reduced the number of patients waiting over 18 months for an OPD appointment by 59% in the last year, from 342 to 141.

The figures also indicated that CUH have reduced the number of patients waiting for IPDC procedures by 6% in the last year, from 1,672 to 1,569 and that CUH has reduced the number of patients waiting for a colonoscopy or OGD appointment by 33% in the last year, from 687 to 456.

Speaking about the latest waiting list figures, Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould said: “We have got people who are waiting not months, but years at this stage. I had to go personally to the HSE and to the Minister about a man who was in constant pain after he had his operation cancelled three times. We have people waiting years for cataract surgery. They put in a new cataract machine in the South Infirmary and they were waiting on equipment and staff,” he added.

“We need the minister and the HSE to come up with a plan. 

"The main thing is we need the delivery of the elective hospital in Cork, but until that is delivered, we need a plan to be put in place. They don’t seem to have a plan. If they (coalition Government) have so much money, why are people waiting so long?

“They know the elective hospital is going to hopefully be the solution. They are talking about it being built by 2028. People can’t wait five years. We need more theatres and more staff to help reduce the waiting list,” he added.

Fine Gael health spokesperson Colm Burke agreed that more planning is required.

“We have to do a lot more planning and in particular using the private hospitals. 

"The public hospitals are under pressure all the time. 

"We need to do the following things in operation. We need to have the medical team, access to a theatre and to a bed when the operation is over. If any one of those components is missing there is difficulty,” he said.

Deputy Burke also highlighted the lack of step-down facilities that are available.

“We have the team and the theatre, but the problem is people are occupying beds who should be out in a step-down facility. You can’t do the operation unless there is a bed to put the person into. There are about 600 people in hospitals nationwide who could be discharged but we don’t have the step-down facilities to put them into.”