Warning of 'record' waiting lists for paediatric services

More than 100,000 children in Ireland are on waiting lists for essential healthcare. Picture: iStock

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has warned that a shortage of consultants across paediatric services is restricting children from accessing medical care and contributing to record waiting lists.

The warning comes as more than 100,000 children are waiting for essential care and almost 40,000 are on lists longer than a year.

According to figures released by the IHCA, more than 95,000 on a National Treatment Purchase Fund list are waiting for treatment or to be seen by a consultant.

40,000-plus waiting over a year for outpatient appointment

This includes more than 82,000 children on hospital outpatient lists, with nearly half of these waiting a year or more for an outpatient appointment.

An additional 8,000 children are awaiting CT scans, MRIs, or ultrasounds at children’s hospitals, bringing the total number waiting to be seen to more than 100,000.

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Around 20,000 children are waiting more than a year to see a consultant at Children's Health Ireland (CHI) at Crumlin, Temple Street Hospital, and Tallaght University Hospital, 584 more than last year.

Rise in number waiting for day-case treatments

A further 4,235 are waiting on day-case treatments — an increase of 106 children since the beginning of 2021 — and 3,463 waiting on inpatient treatments.

More than 2,500 children waiting for inpatient/day case treatments are waiting more than a year.

The largest child outpatient waiting lists are in the following specialities:

• ENT (Otolaryngology) — 17,893 
• Paediatrics — 13,065 
• Dermatology — 8,735 
• Ophthalmology — 6,851 
• Orthopaedics — 6,536 

The IHCA said an additional 199 consultant paediatricians and neonatologist are required by 2028 to address current shortfalls.

Professor Alan Irvine, IHCA president, said the health service is "failing our youngest patients" during their formative years.

'Unacceptable waiting times'

He said: “It is unacceptable to have a waiting time of anything other than three months, at most, for a young child or infant to see a specialist."

Prof Irvine added the waiting lists, while made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic, are a result of a "chronic recruitment and retention crisis". 

"The IHCA is seeking urgent negotiations on the contract proposals to ensure that the contract is modified so that our public hospitals can recruit and retain the number of consultants they need for the patients who depend on them.”