University Hospital Waterford has 364 kids waiting on outpatient care longer than 18 months 

A total of 364 children in Waterford are waiting longer than 18 months for care at University Hospital Waterford as overall waiting lists drop slightly, according to the latest data released by the National Treatment Purchase Fund. 

Nationally, 75,891 children are waiting for various types of outpatient care while a further 8,617 minors are awaiting inpatient care. The number of children on waiting lists at UHW in December stood at 3,995 - a slight improvement on the 4,054 that were in limbo in November's data.

The largest single children's waiting list for any outpatient specialty at UHW is for otolaryngology, for which 1,744 children are in the queue, ophthalmology (559), dermatology (549), paediatrics (295) and orthopaedics (250). While inpatient cardiology waiting lists for adults stand at 184, wait lists for children in cardiology have been eliminated.

At University Hospital Waterford, the majority of people are on waiting lists for outpatient appointments - treatments that do not require hospitalisation. Overall, the number of people on the outpatient waiting lists at UHW has dropped slightly to 43,260, a reduction of 712. Cardiology appointments make up 3,129 of those waiting for care, a moderate improvement from the 3,145 the month prior.

In-person waiting lists at UHW for adults stand at 4,940 - mostly for ophthalmology, otolaryngology (ear nose and throat) and urology appointments.

Nationally, the waiting lists broke an unwanted record in July, as the national waiting list figures reached 911,500. Since that time, while national waiting lists have reduced by more than 200,000; adult outpatient backups have slightly increased while the number of people queueing for inpatient care has decreased.