Waterford TD Matt Shanahan has lamented how the county has historically been 'the poor relation' when it comes to the allocation of funding and resources within the healthcare system.
Deputy Shanahan was speaking as analysis by the Irish Hospital Consultants Association revealed that almost 133,000 people are currently on outpatient lists at South / South West Group Hospitals.
At University Hospital Waterford, 12,699 people have waited with at least 18 months for outpatient care - while 1,305 people have waited with at least one year for inpatient care.
The Independent TD says the Department of Health will point to the Covid-19 pandemic for cover - but these are historic problems.
"The Department of Health and the HSE will point to Covid, but the reality is that this problem has been going on with a long time. Specifically, in UHW - it was identified quite some time ago that we do not enough outpatient or inpatient resourcing. We do not have enough threatre time. We don't have enough nurses, and we don't have enough doctors. Unfortunately, rather than seeing the HSE come to our rescue - instead what we've got is more promised reports and the National Purchase Treatment Fund taking patients out of the South-East to have them treated elsewhere."
Deputy Shanahan noted that much of the volume of patients coming through UHW results from 'feeder patients' arriving from other counties in the region, and the hospital is currently unequipped to deal with such levels of demand for vital services.
"We have feeder patients from ten different counties coming into University Hospital Waterford. Unfortunately, every time we go - and we do go to the HSE, and we do go to the Department - they are not responding. If anybody looked at commencement numbers, particularly University Hospital Limerick, where you will find nearly 1,400 extra staff versus what's going on in Waterford. They are two very similar sized hospitals. Waterford is doing very well based on efficiency metrics - but what we do not have is the increased resourcing."
Shanahan, who was elected in 2020, conceded that despite having 40% of the national population - he believes that almost 70% of all resources nationwide are being dedicated to facilities within the capital.
"This is all about resourcing. It has always been about resourcing. Dublin gets the lions share of everything in this country. That's just the nature of how it is. About 40% of the population - and they get 60-70% of all the funding that's floating around. Certainly, Waterford is the poor relation in terms of a South East regional hospital and that simply has got to change."
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