Outpatient waiting times for consultants soar to 18 months

PATIENTS waiting for outpatient appointments with consultants are facing queues up to 18 months long as hospitals deal with an unplanned surge in numbers.

Almost every hospital in the country was told by the Health Service Executive to expect fewer outpatient attendances this year but the latest progress report presented to HSE bosses shows visits to outpatient departments are running at 18% above target.

The figures also show the number of day case procedures to be 9.2% over what was anticipated and that waiting times for appointments with many consultants are far longer than the target of three months or less.