MORE than 3,000 people are waiting for over a year for appointments at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).
That’s according to data compiled by the HSE, which shows that show that 1,638 people have been waiting 12 to 15 months for an appointment, 615 people for a period of 15 to 18 months and a further 991 people for a period of 18 months or longer.
Raising the figures in a discussion in Dáil Éireann, Sinn Féin TD for Limerick City Maurice Quinlivan called for government intervention at UHL.
“One of the knock-on impacts of the trolley crisis at UHL is the number of outpatients who have been waiting far too long for their appointments. 3,244 people have been on outpatient waiting lists for more than twelve months, with 991 of those people waiting over 18 months for an appointment,” Deputy Quinlivan said.
He highlighted that the facility at the former Scoil Carmel site on O’Connell Avenue, originally scheduled to open this month, has been delayed until the end of 2026.
“It has not only been delayed, but it will now not receive only 50 per cent of the funding that had been previously suggested, leaving it difficult to complete the 20,000 annual procedures that had been planned for; we will struggle to achieve half of that.”
The new surgical hub is intended to take the pressure off operating facilities in UHL and cut waiting times for scheduled procedures.
It was envisaged that the hub would carry out 20,000 proceedure a year.
The Sinn Féin TD said that he welcomes the new hub, “delayed or not, but it beggars belief that funding has been cut while the Government are aware of the crisis in emergency healthcare that is impacting Limerick and the wider Mid West”.
“However, what is much more concerning is that HSE are only allocating funding of 50 per cent of what is necessary to operate the hub.
“The Limerick Surgical Hub was to have 20,000 procedures per year, has been delayed and now not only has it been delayed but the hub will only receive 50 per cent of the budget it requires to complete 20,000 procedures. It will struggle to achieve 10,000 procedures.”