More than 86,000 people on waiting lists for appointments or procedures at Cork hospitals 

WAITING lists for both inpatient and outpatient treatment at Cork’s hospitals have grown since November last year, with more than 14,400 people in Cork waiting 18 months or more for appointments or treatment, according to the latest figures published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF)

The latest NTPF figures revealed that there were 78,179 people on the waiting lists for outpatient appointments in Cork hospitals in November, up from 77,340 from the same month last year.

There were 7,977 on the inpatient waiting list for November 2023 while, for the same period last year, there were 7,098 awaiting admission.

While most people are on the waiting lists for less than six months, 14,410 people were waiting 18 months or longer for outpatient appointments or inpatient procedures with most of this figure made up by 6,703 people waiting for an outpatient appointment at Cork University Hospital and 5,752 on the list for an appointment at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital.

Infrastructure needs

Cork North Central Fine Gael TD and health committee member, Colm Burke, said the issue isn’t as much about staffing, which he says has increased across the HSE, but infrastructure.

While there has been a 40% increase in population, with a 15% jump in the working-age population in Cork alone in the last census, there hasn’t been any increase in the provision in the number of hospitals.

He said that it will be several years, possibly 2027, before a new hospital to be built on the site of the former Sarsfields Court Hospital in Glanmire will be opened to patients.

In October, a contract worth €325m was awarded for the provision of the hospital in Cork and another similar facility in Galway, but Mr Burke pointed out that the design team that would draw up plans for the hospitals might not be appointed until next June as the tender for that contract had yet to be awarded.

“I understood that this time last year we’d have gone for planning by October of this year, but they’re now only inviting tenders for the design team,” Mr Burke said, adding that he had been told that this team was to have been appointed last January.

Beds needed 

Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould said the Government had failed to sort out the hospital bed shortage.

“Three thousand additional beds are required by 2030 and 1,500 of them are urgently needed now to tackle overcrowding,” he said.