Over a year-long wait for 13,500 patients at Limerick hospitals 

ALMOST a third of the 43,251 patients on a waiting list in Limerick have been waiting for more than a year, new monthly statistics reveal. 

According to the monthly National Treatment Purchase Fund figures, there were 43,251 patients on a waiting list at University Hospital Limerick, St John’s Hospital and Croom Orthopaedic Hospital in April.

These figures are at an all-time high. It is a marginal increase on March figures when there were 43,195 patients waiting for appointments and treatment between the three hospitals.

There were 39,256 people on an outpatient waiting list; 31,035 at UHL, 1,166 at St John’s, and 7,055 at Croom. 

In March, there were 39,158 on an outpatient waiting list.

Croom Orthopaedic was the only hospital to see a drop on both outpatient and inpatient waiting lists.

There were 3,995 inpatients on Limerick waiting lists, a 42-person decrease on March figures.

There were 13,507 patients waiting for more than a year for both appointments and treatment—31.2% of the overall waiting list figures.

Last week, it was reported that there were 898 children on an outpatient waiting list at University Hospital Limerick, which Deputy Willie O’Dea described as “disgraceful”.

A UL Hospitals Group spokesperson said 97% of paediatric patients are waiting for less than nine months. He added that the rate of children waiting for more than a year has reduced from 6% to 0.5% since the end of February.