Extra 5,000 currently on University Hospital Waterford's wait lists compared to last year

Waiting lists at University Hospital Waterford have grown by nearly 5,000 compared to the same time last year. 

A total of 49,218 are on the combined inpatient and outpatient waiting lists at the Déise hospital as of January 2025, as shown by data released by the National Treatment Purchase Fund. This represents an increase of 4,940 when compared to the same month last year when 44,278 people were on the combined list.

Included in the figures in 2025, are 5,225 children who are waiting for care - a decrease of 394 from the 5,619 that were waiting for care this time last year.

The number of patients waiting for inpatient care longer than 18 months has risen slightly, from 767 (nine children) in January 12 months prior, to 876 (24 children) last month. Long term outpatient waiting lists show a minor decrease from 5,220 to 5,049.

The largest delays are in the fields of orthopaedics, dermatology, otolaryngology and opthalmology. Significant increases in the number of people delayed in accessing care within cardiology and urology have been seen in the last year.

Overall, waiting lists at University Hospital Waterford have remained relatively constant over the past six months, with the number of adults waiting on outpatient care fluctuating slightly around 40,000 while children's waiting list figures vary between 3,500 and 4,000. Inpatient care numbers have mostly remained steady during the same period - just north of 5,000.

The growth in wait lists has primarily come from lost-term growth in outpatient care waiting lists which have seen more than 8,000 additional patients waiting on care in the past two years.

Amid the growth in waiting lists, the number of patients waiting on trollies for hospital beds at University Hospital Waterford in 2024 reached its lowest in 16 years. Trolley Watch data shows that just 385 people were put on trollies in the Déise hospital in 2024.