Taskforce is needed to tackle chronic public patient wait times, say advocates 

The Irish Patients’ Association tracked the average wait times to both see a consultant and then have surgery in 41 hospitals around Ireland. Stock picture

Patient advocates have called for a taskforce to tackle chronic public patient wait times as figures show thousands of people are waiting up to two years to see a consultant and have surgery.

Figures released by the Irish Patients’ Association (IPA) for July show that patients in Letterkenny, Cork, Galway, Sligo, and Limerick, face the longest waits, with the hospitals in those areas also seeing emergency department overcrowding in the past year.