Number of children on hospital waiting lists in south-southwest equivalent to a large town

Almost 17,000 children are waiting for treatment in acute hospitals in the south-southwest, it has emerged.

President of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, Dr Donal O'Hanlon, said it was “hugely worrying” that the number of children waiting for hospital care was equivalent to the population of Carrigaline or Ballincollig in Co. Cork.