There are more than 10,000 patients waiting for outpatient appointments at Cork University Hospital, new figures show. One third of the patients are waiting to see an orthopaedic surgeon.
The figures, which were released to Fine Gael, do not, however, indicate how long the patients have been waiting.
Nonetheless, the Fine Gael health spokesman, Dr Liam Twomey, said last night he had every reason to believe some of the patients had been waiting "a long time", particularly those who were waiting to see a consultant orthopaedic surgeon or consultant neurologist.
He said that if 10,166 patients were waiting to see consultants in just one hospital, there were obviously thousands more patients in a similar predicament at other hospitals. Dr Twomey is awaiting outpatient waiting list figures from other hospitals.
"These are the thousands of patients where their GP feels they need a consultant opinion and they are literally waiting months. It's only after they are seen that they will go on a waiting list for a procedure or an operation if that is what they need. But the patients' misery doesn't stop at that point because thousands of procedures are being cancelled by hospitals on a monthly basis," he said.
"For obvious political reasons the Government is focusing on the A&E crisis and therefore I don't see things getting better for the thousands of patients we are talking about here before the next general election," he added.
Details of the numbers of patients waiting to see specialists in outpatients, once referred by their GPs, as well as how long they have to wait, have never been routinely published. The only waiting list data normally published are figures for the numbers waiting for inpatient treatment and the length of time they must wait once they are seen in outpatients.
It is acknowledged, however, that waiting times for outpatient appointments can be unacceptably long and it is for this reason that the National Treatment Purchase Fund, which has been given responsibility for management of all hospital waiting lists, has begun tackling outpatient waiting times on a pilot basis.
The outpatient figures released by Cork University Hospital show 3,028 patients are waiting for orthopaedic consultations. The numbers awaiting other specialities are: ophthalmology, 1,663; neurology, 1,246; urology, 1,113; plastic surgery, 1,066; rheumatology, 686; diabetes, 481; paediatrics, 342; vascular surgery, 325; and cardiology, 166.
David Stanton, a Fine Gael TD in East Cork, said it was nothing short of a disgrace that so many people, many of them elderly, should be on waiting lists for an appointment with a consultant.