Thousands in Cork waiting over 200 days for pain relief treatment

More than 3,000 people are waiting an average of more than 200 days for outpatient pain relief treatment in a Cork hospital, a higher wait time than any health area outside of Dublin.

Waiting lists for outpatient hospital-based care specifically aimed at assessing and treating people whose primary issue is significant pain, rather than pain being a side effect of other treatments, show the list of people waiting is at its highest since December 2024.

Data provided by health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill shows that in HSE South West, covering Cork and Kerry, the mean wait time — the combined wait time divided by the amount of patients — is 205 days. The median — the physical middle value of all wait times in order — is 170 days.

Ms Carroll MacNeill said: “It is acknowledged that many patients are still waiting too long for hospital appointments and treatments. I am conscious of the burden that this places on patients and their families.”

A waiting list action plan approach was implemented in September 2021 to reduce and reform hospital waiting lists, and through this, the Government is “progressing towards the ultimate vision of a public healthcare service in which everyone has timely access to high-quality scheduled care, where and when they need it”, she said.

Action plan

She added that her department is engaging with the HSE and National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to finalise an action plan for 2026.

It comes as the latest NTPF waiting list data shows there are 3,238 people waiting for outpatient pain relief treatment from Cork hospitals. This includes 2,400 people in South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital and 838 in Mercy University Hospital.

Of these:

1,715 people are waiting less than six months;

983 are waiting six to 12 months;

427 are waiting 12 to 18 months;

113 are waiting over 18 months.

There are also an additional 2,292 in South Infirmary and 162 in Mercy awaiting inpatient treatment, with longer wait times higher in this category:

320 are waiting over 18 months;

272 are waiting 12 to 18 months;

703 are waiting six to 12 months;

1,159 people are waiting less than six months.