The numbers of people waiting for both outpatient and inpatient treatments at UHG increased by 11,936 - from 52,936 in January 2020 to 64,872 in February of this year.
The figures were published by the HSE and overall show a 22.5 per cent increase in waiting lists for treatment at UHG over the last 14 months.
The largest increase was in people waiting for orthopaedic treatment and cardiology, with the numbers rising from 6,801 to 8,437. While the overall numbers waiting for medical treatments have gone up, the number of people waiting more than 18 months for orthopaedics have increased from 1,122 to 2,892 - a jump of 157 per cent.
Lessons must be learned
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Labour Galway City West councillor, Niall McNelis.
Labour Galway City West councillor, Niall McNelis, has called the rise in numbers “particularly worrying". He said: “People sometimes get turned off by figures, but behind each of these cases is a human story of a person waiting for a medical procedure they require."
He acknowledged that much of the delay is due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but said action by the Government to reduce waiting times was still needed. “We need to get these waiting lists down to at least the point they were at before the pandemic,” he said.
The Labour Party is calling for investment in the health system which will make it deliver the essential medical care a person needs, regardless of that individual’s income or wealth.
“If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is how much we all rely on each other,” said Cllr McNelis, “and how we all rely so much on our overstretched healthcare heroes. They need to be given the resources to tackle these waiting lists.”
