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

Waterford joined the South-South West Hospitals Group in May 2013 and the waiting list for inpatient day cases since then makes for interesting reading. My statistics do not compare with the Minister's. I will cite mine. Overall, the group's list is up 48% since May 2013, well below the national average of 62%, but Waterford has increased by 159% whereas Cork University Hospital, CUH, has decreased by 27%. In May 2013, Waterford accounted for 23% of the group's waiting list. Now, it accounts for 41%. Waterford also accounts for 60% of those waiting 12 months plus when no one there was waiting for that long in May 2013. Some 4,123 people were waiting on the inpatient day lists in August, an increase of 2,542 or 160.8%, on the 1,581 who were waiting in May 2013. While 1,120 people have been waiting longer than a year for treatment, none was waiting for more than a year in May 2013, and 168 people have been waiting for longer than 18 months. These statistics contradict the Minister's.

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