HOSPITALS IN THE HSE’s Dublin and Midlands region have the lowest rate of outpatient appointments in the country, 55% lower than what was projected in 2016.

Consultants in the group – which covers Offaly, Westmeath, Kildare, Laois, and parts of Dublin city – are taking nearly 1.5 million fewer outpatients appointments than they potentially could be had the rate of appointments stayed the same since 2016.

By contrast, the lowest discrepancy was found in Dublin South-East, at only 17%.

The figures form part of a release by the Department of Health to “demonstrate to public the levels of productivity across the health sector, based on the significant increases in funding and staff invested in our health services during the lifetime of this Government.”

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said that the publication of the data “aims to improve transparency and allow the public to see how each hospital and each specialty is doing with the resources they have. The information will also be used to benchmark activity at specialty, hospitals and HSE Health Regions.”

The data covers 21 hospital sites, broken down by hospital and specialty to help the public and GPs to understand regional and hospital performance on waiting times for elective procedures, and on urgent and emergency care.

Accident & Emergency presentations have also increased, with 1.7 million cases in 2023. This surpassed a pre-Covid high of 1.5 million.

Total hours for consultants have also risen, with Whole-Time Equivalent (WTE) rising by over 300 from 2022-2023, and by nearly 1,000 compared to pre-Covid figures.

WTE is the amount of hours worked by a consultant against the standard full-time hours for their grade. If they work the same number of hours as their grade, the value is one. WTE does not include overtime.

Despite the amount of hours worked by consultants rising year-on-year, the number of outpatient appointments per consultant has fallen by over 30% since 2016.

Hospital expenditure has also seen a jump, with an average increase of 57% compared to pre-Covid levels. Cork University Hospital saw the greatest increase – 75% – while Sligo University Hospital saw the lowest at 46%.

Waiting lists are trending downwards across the service in the first half of 2024, with a sharp increase in those waiting less than 12 months for procedures since 2023.

Hospitals in the Mid-West region have seen the most drastic improvement, rising from last place at the end of 2022, to second in 2024. Dublin South-East is the only group to have seen an increase in wait times.

Minister Donnelly also said that while waiting lists had fallen over the last two years, “we need to make much more progress”.

“Patients need to get access to care as quickly as possible. While waiting lists have fallen for the last two years, more people can be treated, and treated more quickly, by improving the efficiency and productivity of our health service.”

“I will continue to fight for more funding for patients and our health service,” he said.

Earlier this week, Minister Donnelly announced an agreement with the Department of Public Expenditure that sees an extra €1.5 billion allocated to the HSE for 2024.