Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has failed to fulfil his promise to eliminate long waits for hospital appointments, despite spending over €50 million to achieve the target.
More than 10,000 patients were waiting over 15 months for an appointment or procedure at the end of December, new figures show. Mr Varadkar had promised no patient would be on the list for this period of time by the deadline.
The overall outpatient waiting list fell last month to 375,000, the lowest figure for this year and down less than 10 per cent from a peak of 414,000 in mid-2015.
There were almost 10,000 patients waiting longer than 15 months for an outpatient appointment at the end of December, down from 21,000 a month earlier, according to the figures from the National Purchase Treatment Fund. Over half of these patients have been waiting over 18 months for their appointment.
An outsourcing initiative that saw over 21,000 patients outsourced to private doctors helped reduce the list, but the threatened strike by emergency department nurses before Christmas resulted in the cancellation of many non-urgent appointments in seven hospitals.
Almost a year ago, Mr Varadkar set a target that no patient would be waiting for more than 18 months by mid-2015 and for more than 15 months by the end of last year.
Responding to the latest figures, the Minister claimed 93 per cent achievement of his 15-month target for outpatients and 95 per cent achievement of the target for inpatients.
He said the data showed clear progress was being made in reducing waiting lists and promised the focus would remain on those longest on the lists.
The problem of long waiting lists is concentrated in a handful of hospitals, many of which area also struggling with emergency department overcrowding. Beaumont Hospital in Dublin has almost 1,600 outpatients waiting over 15 months for an appointment, and Tullamore, Tallaght and Galway hospitals also have high numbers of long waiters.
Delays are worst in ear, nose and throat; orthopaedics; and dermatology.
Nationally, 746 adults and children were waiting longer than the target time of 15 months for inpatient or daycase treatment at the end of December.
Emergency department overcrowding was unchanged yesterday, with 423 patients awaiting admission on trolleys and in wards,
