According to a newly published report record by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) it is believed that over 530,000 people are currently on a public hospital waiting list for inpatient, outpatient or day care.
The latest report also found that the above number is continuing to rise sharply despite the Government’s promise to invest €50m to address the issue.
Latest figures showed that a massive 430,000 patients were waiting for an outpatient appointment at the end of last month, which marks a 10,000 increase from the month of June.
The damning report also showed that more than 70,000 outpatients have been waiting for an appointment for over a year, whilst 39,000 have been waiting longer than the 15-months which is longer than the “maximum” waiting time set by the Government.