Three-year wait to join surgery waiting list

HIP surgery patients face a delay of three years just to get onto a waiting list for treatment at one of the country’s largest hospitals, where consultants are dealing with a work-load three times the recommended level.

Public orthopaedic patients are currently advised that once they are referred to consultants at Cork University Hospital it will be 36 months before they can expect to get an appointment.

Irish Patients’ Association chairman Stephen McMahon said the figures reveal a problem endured by outpatients around the country.