Galway’s public hospitals have worst waiting lists in country

Waiting lists for outpatients at Galway’s three public hospitals have increased by more than 10% since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic – at the moment, more than 51,000 people are on lists to see a consultant here.

The combined outpatient and inpatient waiting lists for the three hospitals sits at more than 60,000 people.

Galway University Hospitals (UHG and Merlin Park combined) have the biggest overall outpatients waiting list of any public hospital in the entire country.

Their worst-hit area was orthopaedics, where the waiting list has increased by more than one-fifth in the space of six months. Three years after operating theatres were shut down due to a leaking roof, new ones are still only at the planning stage.

There are currently 6,282 people on the outpatients list (plus a further 1,320 on the inpatients list) – patients requiring the likes of hip and knee replacements, as well as spinal, ankle and shoulder surgeries.

Many of the patients on the overall waiting lists – who are suffering from serious and debilitating conditions – are faced with lengthy delays for an initial appointment with a consultation, and those figures continue to grow.

General surgery lists have also been hit – there are currently 2,571 on the outpatient list, up 36% since before Covid hit the country.

A Connacht Tribune analysis of the official figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) shows that at the end of August (the most up-to-date figures available), there were 11,478 people waiting 18 months or longer for their first outpatient appointment at the combined GUH.

That is up from 8,597 – an increase of just over one third – from the end of February, just days before the World Health Organisation declared coronavirus to be a pandemic, and the pressures that consequently had on the health system here.
This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read it in full and to see all the figures, see this week’s Connacht Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.