More than 4,000 children stuck on UHW wait lists
This figure includes 347 children who have been waiting for more than 18 months for care.
The number of children stuck on waiting lists at University Hospital Waterford has risen slightly to more than 4,000 following successive reductions in minors waiting for care in recent months.
In the last three months, the number of children on UHW waiting lists dropped to 3,995 in December, and January saw a further reduction to 3,986 before the figures rose to 4,033 in February. This figure includes 347 children who have been waiting for more than 18 months for care - primarily in ophthalmology and otolaryngology for inpatient cases, while dermatology joins ophthalmology as the primary causes of such lists for outpatient care.
In total, 1,983 children are stuck waiting for otolaryngology care at UHW, 661 for ophthalmology appointments, and 586 for dermatology care. The remaining figures are spread across orthopaedics, urology, general surgery and small-volume specialities.
Waiting lists in the Déise hospital have increased across the board, as shown by the latest data from the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
At University Hospital Waterford, the majority of people are on waiting lists for outpatient appointments - treatments that do not require hospitalisation - which saw a slight rise to 40,542, against the comparatively small adult inpatient list of 4,980 - up 2% on the January figures.
A speciality of note in Waterford - cardiology - is set to see an expansion in primary percutaneous coronary intervention coverage to 8am to 8pm at weekends, but has seen a slight increase in outpatient waiting lists from 3,079 to 3,113, while inpatient lists dropped slightly.
Of concern, the number of outpatient cardiology cases, which have been waiting for more than 18 months, has reached 1,000 for the first time since November.
Continuing the trend in January, the combined inpatient and outpatient waiting lists in 2025 remain nearly 5,000 higher than the same period last year. Rising from 49,218 last month, 49,555 people are on the combined waiting lists in February, an increase of 4,800 on the same month in 2024.
In 2024, the number of patients waiting on trollies for hospital beds at University Hospital Waterford was at its lowest in 16 years, and data from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) shows the hospital is on track to beat those figures.
In the first two months of 2025, UHW is down 17.7% on its 16-year record performance from the same period last year.
The metric, which is meant to demonstrate the level of overcrowding in Irish hospitals, showed that, in 2024, just 385 people were put on trollies in the Waterford hospital. If figures continue as projected throughout the year, UHW could see that figure drop further.
