Galway University hospitals have the highest number of patients on waiting lists in the country
That's according to the latest data from the national Treatment Purchase Fund
A total of 14,362 patients were awaiting treatment in Galway University hospitals, which include UHG and Merlin park campuses.
The vast majority, 13,691 of those, were adults, with 671 children recorded on waiting lists.
The next closest hospital in terms of total waiting list numbers is Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, with 12,546.
When it comes to hospital waiting lists, how long people are waiting for treatment is considered a much better metric than how many are waiting.
And in this regard, Galway University Hospitals have some of the poorest metrics in the country.
Figures for June show just under 7 thousand are waiting less than six months; 3,342 are waiting up to a year; 1,261 are waiting up to 18 months; and a further 2,392 are waiting longer than that.
These are some of the longest wait times in the country - for example, patients waiting more than 18 months at GUH account for 25 percent of the national total.
Meanwhile, in Portiuncula University Hospital, numbers remain around the 400 mark, which is more aligned to HSE targets
