Consultants criticise 'very disappointing' record numbers on hospital waiting lists
A record number of 883,727 patients are now on some form of National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) waiting list, according to new figures. At the end of April, 630,305 patients were waiting for an outpatient appointment, 76,972 patients for inpatient or day case treatment and 34,394 for an endoscopy. Currently 21,096 people have been given a date for their inpatient/day case or endoscopy procedure, 90,013 patients are recorded in the planned procedure category and 62,002 of these patients have indicative dates in the future or have an appointment. The Irish Hospital Consultants Associa...