Almost 20,000 people are awaiting an outpatient or inpatient appointment at Letterkenny University Hospital.
Nationally, over 903,000 people on some form of hospital waiting list, according to the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
Nearly 624,000 are waiting for their first outpatient consultation, with inpatient lists increasing to 80,275.
Donegal GP, Ciarán Ó Fearraigh, says the longer someone is waiting, the worse their condition becomes:
Stephen McMahon from The Irish Patients Association says that waiting lists are so long, current Government plans to use an EU scheme sending patients abroad to lower waiting times for treatments might be some patients’ best option….
