Latest waiting list figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund show that they continued to climb this month, reaching 558,484 last week. Patient advocate, Stephen McMahon, said the outpatient waiting list needed to be addressed immediately. Mr Donnelly recalled that Simon Harris, the health minister, said he hoped to stabilise outpatient waiting lists this year. However, the number of patients waiting for inpatient or day case treatment fell slightly, from 70,295 to 68,765. Also, 4,610 of the 106,145 waiting over 18 months have an appointment date within the next six weeks.

Source: Irish Examiner June 15, 2019 05:26 UTC