Special Report: How sick is our health service?

Covid-19 exposed the crevices in our creaking health service that has been dogged by persistent problems, such as the winter trolley crisis, burgeoning waiting lists and access issues in general. Picture: David Creedon / Anzenberger

Despite record spending on health, tens of thousands of patients continue to languish on persistent and growing waiting lists. Maresa Fagan examines the key service metrics to see if the health service is sicker than ever?

It took a potentially lethal virus and global pandemic to wake up the political class to the glaring gaps and deficiencies in our health service last year.