The number of people waiting for an outpatient hospital appointment stood at more than 515,500, according to the latest figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).

The Taoiseach says there is a lot of double counting in the hospital waiting list figures.

The procedures with the longest hospital waiting lists are also among the most cost-effective, according to a study — raising questions as to whether our health system is allocating public funds in the best way possible.

A desperate mother has invited the health minister to visit her ill son screaming in pain as he awaits an operation to fix his spine.

The system for validating hospital waiting lists has been labelled 'unjust' by GPs.

The number of children waiting over 18 months for an outpatient consultation has broken the 10,000 thresholds.

Some 50,000 people were on waiting lists for eye procedures at the end of last year, many of them for 18 months.

Irish hospitals may soon be unable to guarantee “routine” services as a basic right to patients due to the severe strain record-breaking new waiting list figures are putting on the system.

Thousands of children are on waiting lists for key psychological appointments, with more than 1,700 children already delayed by more than a year.

Data that has been made publicly available for the first time this year has revealed the most detailed picture yet of waiting lists in every hospital in the country.

Over 480,000 patients are now on waiting lists for hospital treatment, including 94,000 who are waiting over a year.