Waiting lists at University Hospital Limerick soar past 50k

THE NUMBER of patients waiting for appointments and procedures at Limerick hospitals has soared since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, new figures show. 

Monthly figures published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund show there were 53,518 patients waiting for an appointment, inpatient procedure or surgery at University Hospital Limerick, St John’s Hospital, and Croom Hospital, this July. 

This was an 11.8% hike on figures in February when there were 47,296 patients on a waiting list between the three hospitals. In July 2019, there were 47,946 patients on a waiting list in Limerick. 

There are 4,104 inpatients and 49,414 outpatients on waiting lists in Limerick, an increase of 1,008 and 5,214 since the start of the pandemic, respectively. 

A total of 20,109 outpatients have been waiting for more than a year for an appointment at UHL - almost half the number of people on a waiting list at the Dooradoyle hospital. 

The areas most negatively affected outpatient waiting lists at UHL are ENT [ears, nose, throat] with 6,267, ophthalmology with 4,988, and dermatology with 4,772. 

There were 7,051 outpatients waiting for orthopaedic appointments in Croom, 2,974 of whom have been waiting for more than 18 months. 

On March 6, just days before the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus a pandemic, the UL Hospitals Group announced that all outpatient appointments were to be cancelled. This was after six Covid-19 cases were confirmed at UHL. 

Since, the UL Hospitals Group, alongside all hospital groups, put in place restrictive measures for outpatients and inpatients.

The UL Hospitals Group told the Leader that the pandemic has had “a considerable impact” on health services within their six facilities across the Mid-West. A spokesperson said that it is “prioritising sickest patients first”. 

“Hospitals across Ireland suspended almost all elective activity in March 2020 in response to the pandemic,” the spokesperson said, adding that they have gradually begun to resume clinics and procedures in a number of specialities. 

“We are conscious that the unfortunate but necessary suspension of so much scheduled work has been difficult on our patients, especially those patients who had already been waiting a long time for their outpatient appointment or procedure.”

The hospital group has made a considerable investment virtual and telephone appointments, with around 16,000 outpatient attendances seen by consultants virtually. That is almost half of the 32,632 appointments seen in that period. 

The number of attendances has been 66% of the total attendances seen in the corresponding period in 2019.

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