678,000 on hospital waiting lists 'shocking indictment' of Government, according to Fianna Fáil
The Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Health has called on the Government to act on increasing hospital waiting lists.
Deputy Billy Kelleher was responding to the latest NTPF figures that show that the total number of people waiting in the health service has increased by 19,000 to nearly 678,000.
"It's simply baffling that despite all the supposed attention the Minister for Health is putting on improving services, things are getting worse, not better.
"His laughable attempts at claiming success in the form of a mere 900 person reduction in inpatient waiting lists won't make the families across Ireland waiting for an appointment any more confident about their chances of being seen anytime soon," he said.
"Having nearly 700,000 people on waiting lists is a shocking indictment of this government's poor record of delivery in health since 2011," he added.
He said one in six Irish people are on waiting lists.
"Minister Harris cannot let these waiting lists grow any further. He must immediately come forward with his plans for dealing with them.
He accused the Government of attempting to hide the figures by releasing them late on a Friday afternoon.
"The Government cannot hide from its failings on delivering a health service that works for all our country's people. Enough is enough," he added.
Tthe National Treatment Purchase Fund has said more than 678,800 patients were waiting for hospital care at the end of September in Ireland.
The figure represents an increase of 19,000 on the previous month, according to RTÉ News.
More than 101,460 were waiting for inpatient or day case treatment.
Some lists saw reductions, for example the numbers waiting to be seen by a consultant at an outpatient clinic were down slightly on August figures but remained above 495,000.
A further 10,317 are temporarily unfit or unable to attend due to clinical or personal reasons.
