Hospital waiting lists fall for first time this year

Hospital waiting lists across all categories of treatment and for all lengths of wait fell last month for the first time this year, according to the latest figures.

The total number of outpatients waiting for an appointment is under 386,000, the lowest level recorded this year, the figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund show.

However, the target set by Minister for Health Leo Varadkar that from the end of December, no patient should have to wait longer than 15 months for an appointment or treatment, looks unlikely to be met.

More than 21,000 outpatients were waiting at least 15 months for an appointment at the end of November, down from 31,000 a month earlier. This was largely achieved by hospitals putting on extra clinics outside normal working hours or by outsourcing work to the private sector.

Almost 3,300 patients were waiting for inpatient or daycase treatment, down from 5,000. Both figures would have to drop to zero in the next monthly figures for Mr Varadkar’s target to be met.

The NTPF figures show 9,600 people were waiting more than 18 months for an outpatient appointment, down 3,700 in a month. The numbers waiting for inpatient/daycase treatment for at least 18 months dropped to 1,500. Mr Varadkar originally intended that no patient would be on a waiting list this long by the end of last June, but the figure trended upwards until recent weeks.

Very positive

His department described the reductions in all the main waiting lists as very positive. It also welcomed a fall in the number of patients waiting for gastrointestinal endoscopies and said anyone waiting for more than 12 months for the procedure would be targeted in a new initiative.

University Hospital Galway has the greatest number of outpatients waiting over 18 months, at 1,325. Beaumont Hospital has 969 long waiters and Tullamore hospital 814.

Galway and Beaumont hospitals also have the largest number of inpatients waiting more than 18 months.

The number of patients waiting in emergency departments for admission is also down in recent weeks. There were 321 patients on trolleys and in wards on Monday, according to the daily count by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.