A consultant ear nose and throat surgeon working in the north west is today warning of the long-term impact on patients across the country who face delays of up to of up to five years on hospital waiting lists for some of the most common conditions and procedures.
Ms Mary Bresnihan is a consultant ENT surgeon at Sligo University Hospital and operates a regional ENT service at Letterkenny University Hospital.
She says one of the biggest concerns is the potential for missed cancer diagnoses.
She points out that ear, nose, and throat waiting lists are some of the longest across all specialties
Almost 77,000 people are waiting on an ENT hospital list, with 57% waiting longer than a year to see a consultant or receive treatment.
There are now more than 20,000 additional people, an increase of 41%, on ENT outpatient waiting lists compared with 2015.
The number of those waiting longer than a year for an ENT outpatient appointment with a consultant has increased by over 29,000 in the past six years -- that's a 3-fold increase.
Speaking in a new video released on social media today by the Irish Hospitals Consultants Association as part of its CareCantWait campaign, Mary Bresnihan says one of the biggest concerns is the potential for missed cancer diagnoses.
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Ms Bresnihan believes that until the government gives greater priority to tackling waiting lists for scheduled essential surgery and procedures, many patients will continue to face long waits and reduced health outcomes.
She says while nationally one in five hospital consultant posts are not filled as needed, the situation across the North-West is worse.
She says in the meantime, people are getting worse.
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