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Almost 6000 waiting a year for
hospital appointment
10.06.15
INISHOWEN TD Charlie
McConalogue has described the Government’s health
strategy has "a disaster" for Donegal as he revealed
the latest figures on in-patient and out-patient
waiting lists.
The latest figures from the National Treatment
Purchase Fund (NTPF) show that 800 people joined the
out-patient waiting list at Letterkenny General
Hospital since January, increasing the waiting list
by 16%.
There are now 5,727 people waiting more than 12
months for an appointment – that’s 35% of all
patients on a list.
“The number of people waiting more than a year for
an out-patient appointment has risen by 16% since
the start of 2015. This is extremely worrying.
However, what’s worse is the fact that out-patient
waiting times have jumped by 254% since May last
year. Over the past 12 months the number of people
waiting over a year for an outpatient appointment
has increased by a massive 4,110," said the FF
deputy. |
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Letterkenny General Hospital. |
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“This Government’s
decision to strip the NTPF of its main role in
driving down hospital waiting lists has proved to be
a disaster for Donegal. In the past, the fund
purchased spare capacity from the private sector to
cut the number of public patients waiting for
treatment in public hospitals. The fund treated
almost 200,000 people with average waiting times
being slashed from between two and five years to two
to three months. Under Fine Gael and Labour these
figures have gone through the roof. Nationally
outpatient waiting lists have climbed to over
412,000," he added. He said his party was committed
to establishing a special task force to produce a
plan to ensure that all scheduled day case/in
patient care is delivered within the internationally
recognised target of six months. |
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