20,000 people wait for consultant appointments

ALMOST 20,000 people are being forced to wait for outpatient appointments at one of the country’s largest hospitals — with nearly one in four on lists for more than a year.

Official Health Service Executive (HSE) figures confirm that children and adults in need of neurological, orthopaedic, paediatric and cardiology care are unable to access the treatment they need at Cork University Hospital (CUH).

Figures for CUH show that at the start of June 19,940 people were on outpatient consultant waiting lists across all 36 departments.