Over 18 thousand people are waiting up to a year and a half for scans in hospitals across the Shannonside region.
The figures come as the INMO have warned of dangerous overcrowding in hospital emergency departments.
The figures were published in a report made available by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly in response to a parliamentary question by Deputy John Lahart. The report breaks down the number of people waiting for CT, MRI, Ultrasound, and VUS scans across various hospital groups in quarter 2 of this year. According to the figures, 18 thousand people are waiting over a year and a half or more for scans in hospital groups across the Shannonside region. The Dublin Midlands group, which includes Tullamore regional hospital, currently has just over 16 thousand people waiting up to 3 months for a scan, and over 10 thousand people waiting 18 months or more to receive a scan.
The Saolta Group which covers Galway University Hospital, Sligo University Hospital, Portiuncula, and Roscommon hospital currently has 3149 people waiting a year or more for a scan. The figures also show however, that 13 thousand people are waiting up to 3 months or less for a scan in these hospitals The Ireland East group, which includes Mullingar Regional Hospital has 15,161 people waiting up to 3 months for a scan and 4519 waiting over 18 months.
Nationally, 238,605 patients are on a waiting list to receive care
