CLOSE TO 500,000 people are on waiting lists that are longer than the maximum Sláintecare wait time targets.

The 2017 Sláintecare report recommended maximum wait times of no more than 12 weeks for an inpatient / day case procedure or GI Scope and 10 weeks for a new outpatient appointment.

New hospital waiting list figures published today by the National Treatment Purchase Fund show that, as of the end of May, 497,090 people are on the Active Waiting Lists that are longer than the Sláintecare maximum wait times.

This is a 1% increase in comparison to the end of April.

As of the end of last month, 51,875 people are currently exceeding the 12-week inpatient/day case target, which is around the same figure as at the end of April. 

10,465 people are exceeding the 12-week GI Scope target, a 2% decrease compared to the end of April. 

434,750 people are exceeding the 10-week outpatient target, equating to a 1% increase compared to the end of April.

However, the Department of Health noted that “targeted activity under the Waiting List Action Plan is running significantly ahead of target”.

The number of patients removed from the outpatient, in-patient/day case and GI Scope waiting lists during the first four months of this year was around 38,000, or 10%, higher than the target.

Additions to waiting lists in the same period of this were around 10% higher than projected, at 48,000.

Meanwhile, additions to waiting lists are around 70,000 higher than in the same period in 2022, and around 92,000 higher than the same period in 2019.

Scheduled care waiting lists have come under pressure in the first quarter of 2023, but a Department of Health spokesperson said: “The 30 actions outlined in the 2023 Waiting List Action Plan will begin to have a positive impact during Q2 as the post-pandemic and winter pressures on our hospitals hopefully begin to ease.”

The HSE has attributed the higher than anticipated additions to waiting lists to several factors, including “post-pandemic pent-up demand”.

It also noted that other counties are experiencing similar levels of increase in waiting list additions and added that the NHS in Britain is also seeing higher additions compared to previous years. 

The HSE also published the most recently available 12 months of data on hospital activity.

There were 3.4 million outpatient and 1.7 million in-patient / day case attendances over this 12-month period.

In addition to this planned or “scheduled” care, the HSE also treated 1.6 million patients during this same period in emergency care, a 10% increase on pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “Such pressures have had the expected knock-on impact on scheduled care in many of our hospitals in the first months of this year, which has resulted in some waiting lists temporarily increasing.

“However, there are many examples of individual hospitals delivering significant improvements in waiting times despite such challenges.”

By way of example, the Department noted that over the past year, CHI Crumlin has reduced the number of patients waiting over 18 months for an outpatient appointment by 37%, from 5,780 to 3,666.

Those waiting over 12 months for an in-patient/day case procedure reduced by 24%, from 1,165 to 884.

Our Lady’s Hospital Navan has also reduced the number of patients waiting over 18 months for an out-patient appointment by 66% from 2,362 to 792, while Louth County Hospital has reduced the number of patients waiting over 18 months for an outpatient appointment by 100%, from 235 to 1.