A spokeswoman for the HSE has confirmed that waiting times for outpatient appointments at the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar, are "well below" the seven months national average waiting time.
The Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar, was one of eight hospitals analysed nationwide in a study by the HSE published last week. The study found that the hospitals analysed, which included hospitals in Louth, Cavan, Navan, Mallow, Kerry, Wexford, and Merlin Park (Galway ), had average waiting times of approximately six months for general surgery and general medicine.
However, the HSE study found that patients in many hospitals currently face an average wait of approximately seven months for an outpatient appointment. The average waiting time for an outpatient consultant clinic appointment in many regional and general hospitals is 200 days.
Turning to specialities, orthopaedics has the longest average outpatient waiting list at approximately 420 days or 15 months. This is followed by opthalmology at 13 months and ear, nose and throat at 11 months.
It is understood that the HSE plans to introduce an action plan, in a bid to reduce outpatients’ waiting times. The study indicates that the HSE's target routine waiting time for outpatient appointments is 90 days.
According to HSE statistics, outpatient attendance this year increased by 10 per cent on last year's figures. Currently, there are 16,000 people on in-patient waiting lists, and 44,000 on day case waiting lists in HSE hospitals.
