20 years needed to cut backlog in hospitals

HOSPITAL waiting lists will take almost 20 years to clear at the current rate of progress, despite the Government’s election promise to eliminate the 30,000 backlog within two years.

The latest hospital figures, released yesterday, show an overall decrease of just 400 in the number of patients waiting for treatment during the first three months of this year.

At that rate of reduction, the build-up of patients awaiting treatment will not be cleared for at least 18 years or until 2021.