Colum Eastwood brands Derry’s 20,000+ health waiting list ‘utterly shameful' with 10,000 waiting over a year

Mr. Eastwood was speaking after receiving confirmation from the Department of Health that at the end of June 20,476 people in his Foyle constituency were waiting for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment and that 10,164 had been waiting for over a year.

The Foyle MP said: “That means almost 20 per cent of Derry is on a hospital waiting list. It is scandalous.

"How many people in our city are in pain, forced into taking out loans to afford private healthcare? I can only imagine the toll this is taking on patients' mental health and their family life as they face an anxious wait for much needed treatment.

"Many could find their condition getting worse as a result of waiting and that will heap further pressure on an already stretched health service.”

Figures obtained by Mr. Eastwood show that at the end of June, 4,019 people in Derry were waiting for an outpatient appointment in General Surgery; 2,654 in ENT; 2,466 in Gynaecology; 2,158 in Opthamology; 1,978 in General Medicine; 1,823 in Neurology; 1,386 in T&O Surgery; 1,133 in Rheumatology; 937 in Oral Surgery; 643 in Dermatology; and 1,279 in Other Specialities.

DoH also confirmed 8,720 patients in the Foyle constituency were waiting for admission for inpatient or day case treatment and that 4,716 of these had been waiting for longer than a year.

The SDLP leader called for the resurrection of Stormont to help address the backlog.

“We need a modern, properly staffed and funded health service that can meet people's needs, but every day we're getting farther away from that.

"While the DUP maintain their boycott of Stormont and we fail to implement the transformation needed, waiting lists get longer and people in Derry continue to suffer.

"Until our MLAs get back to work and we get an Assembly and Executive in place we will be powerless to address the worsening crisis in our health service and those responsible should be ashamed of themselves."

Eastwood: NHS has ‘basically collapsed’ with outcomes that would ‘embarrass third world country’