Waiting list numbers for Galway University Hospitals have increased by 1,495 since 2025.
Figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund, reveal that 13,266 adults and 641 children were awaiting treatment as of the 30th of May this year.
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.
HSE targets are 10 weeks for an outpatient appointment and 12 weeks for an inpatient or day case procedure.
Figures for May show just under 6,800 are waiting less than six months; 2,827 are waiting up to a year; 1,418 are waiting up to 18 months; and a further 2,223 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 24 percent of the national total.
While there is a sizeable increase in the past 12 months, total waiting list numbers have increased by just 24 between April and May of this year.
Meanwhile, in Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, there are 468 adults and 14 children awaiting treatment which is more closely aligned with HSE targets.
