22 November 2021
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
The Cork North Central Solidarity TD Mick Barry this morning slammed the Government for delays in the announcement of Cork’s new elective hospital and said that the urgency of the situation is shown by fresh statistics about hospital waiting lists.
According to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) there were 5641 patients waiting for inpatient/day care procedures in Cork hospitals at the end of October with a further 66,865 patients waiting for outpatient appointments.
The NTPF say that there were 836 patients waiting more than 18 months for inpatient/day care procedures with more than 20,000 waiting more than that amount of time for an appointment.
Furthermore, the NTPF reports that there were 300 children waiting for inpatient/day care procedures with 34 waiting more than 18 months and 8036 children waiting for appointments with 1652 of them waiting for more than 18 months.
Deputy Barry said: “Government TDs told Cork media at the start of October that details of our new elective hospital would be announced within a week. Well, it’s coming towards the end of November now and we’re still none the wiser. How long exactly do the Government intend to delay this announcement? Are they going to make us wait until next year?”
Government sources have strongly indicated that the new elective hospitals for Cork, Dublin and Galway are likely to perform day procedures only but the Cork North Central TD has signalled that he believes that procedures that involve overnight stays should be performed as well.
Mick Barry TD
