Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this important matter for discussion in the Topical Issue Debate. Waterford Regional Hospital, now known as Waterford University Hospital, is the closest hospital to a large number of people in south County Kilkenny, many of whom are waiting for an outpatient appointment or inpatient day case treatment in the hospital. The number of people on waiting lists for treatment at Waterford University Hospital is shocking. In May 2015, some 26,553 people were waiting for outpatient treatment, an increase of 4,188, or 18.7%, in 12 months. It is especially appalling that 10,866 people have been waiting to see a consultant for more than a year. While the figure decreased slightly in April 2015, it increased by 1,744 between January and May and by 7,767, or almost 250%, in the 12 months preceding May 2015.

As such, 41% of those awaiting an outpatient appointment at Waterford have been waiting for more than one year, which is twice the national average of 20.5%. If one examines the figures further, matters get worse as there are 2,965 people who have been waiting for more than two years for an appointment. No other hospital in the country has so many people who have been waiting for more than two years and only Tallaght comes close with just over 2,000. Of the almost 3,000 people who have been waiting more than two years in Waterford, more than one third have been waiting for more than three years. That means 1,067 people have been waiting since May 2012. There are a further 452 people who went on the list in May 2011 and are still waiting.

It is not only outpatients who are suffering of course. The latest National Treatment Purchase Fund figures from May 2015 show that 4,210 people are on waiting lists for day case inpatient treatment at University Hospital Waterford. This compares to 3,773 in January 2015, 2,336 in May 2014, and 1,581 in May 2013. Of the 4,210 waiting in Waterford in May 2015, 624 have been waiting for more than 12 months, which compares to 64 in January 2015, 20 in May 2014 and none in May 2013. The numbers on the day-case inpatient list in Waterford have almost trebled in two years. No other hospital in the South/South West Hospitals Group has experienced this. Nationally, the waiting list has increased by 39.5% in over two years whereas in Waterford the increase has been of the order of 166.3%, which is appalling when Minister is seeking to have this addressed and substantially reversed. We all accept that health services are demand-driven, but to have so many people waiting for so long is a scandal.

I was in University Hospital Waterford at the weekend. The pressure front-line staff are under is enormous and something must be done about it. We must spend more money and appoint more front-line staff in Waterford because the hospital is unable to cope at present.

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