17,000 patients waiting for appointment with a gastroenterologist

Dr Brian Egan said that his team at Mayo University Hospital was seeing “much later presentations of cancer”, often in people who have waited months following a referral.

Hospital consultants are warning of a “rapid increase” in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Ireland, as the number of patients on waiting lists for treatment continues to grow.

According to the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), almost 17,000 patients are currently on a waiting list to see a gastroenterologist - a more than 70% increase since 2015.