Galway University Hospitals inpatient waiting list shows 1110 patients waiting for planned procedures

Information available on the National Treatment Purchase Fund’s website shows the most recent statistics for the adult patient waiting lists for Galway University Hospitals.

Under a Freedom of Information search, the inpatient/day case planned procedures as of August 25th was revealed for both University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park combined.

Of the 1,110 total waiting patients, 9 per cent had a planned date with an indicative date in the future. 10 per cent of patients had a planned date with an indicative date in the past, while 47 per cent were given a “To Come In” (TCI) date, a confirmed date for admission.

TCI patients are still considered as actively waiting for their procedure.

Breaking down the inpatient/day case procedures further, the following statistics for speciality procedures were revealed. This list was for adults waiting 18 months or longer. 

The lowest waiting figures for speciality procedures were 5 for endocrinology, 15 for cardiology and 17 for gastroenterology. Orthopaedics, general surgeries and plastic surgeries saw the highest numbers of waiting patients at 263, 456 and 523 respectively.

Where there are less than 20 patients waiting in a particular speciality, the numbers have been aggregated under a ‘small volume’ heading. There were no cases for respiratory medicine, cardiothoracic surgery or small volume specialities on this list for 18 months or longer.

Additionally, a child waiting list for inpatient/day cases by speciality in Galway hospitals was also reported on 25 August.

There were 78 cases of children waiting 18 months or longer in the combined Galway University Hospitals. Of this list, plastic surgeries again made up most of the specialty surgeries at 48 per cent. 13 patients were waiting for ENT, 9 for ophthalmology, 8 for small volume specialities, 5 for urology, 3 for oral surgery and 3 for orthopaedics. 

This is the most up-to-date information available on the National Treatment Purchase Fund website. Boards and management of individual public hospitals are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of patient data submitted to the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

Saolta did not respond to a request for a press release.