Hospital cancellations behind record 1 million waiting lists
Drive to tackle trolley crisis by cancelling elective care has pushed waiting lists over 1 million mark for first time
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has today (Friday, 12 June 2026) expressed its extreme concern at the new record number of people waiting for an appointment to be treated or assessed in public hospitals, which has topped the 1 million mark for the first time.
New figures published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) today confirm a record 1,008,600 people were on some form of hospital waiting list at the end of May – an increase of almost 10,000 in a single month.
The total includes 669,500 people on outpatient waiting lists, close to 115,500 patients awaiting inpatient or day case treatment, almost 41,000 waiting for a gastrointestinal (GI) scope, and a further 182,600 on numerous less publicised planned procedure and suspension lists.1
The Association said the policy of controlling the trolley numbers in Emergency Departments by cancelling elective procedures and appointments has directly contributed to these record waiting lists, alongside higher demand and increased referrals. However, these cancellations are causing severe knock-on consequences for patient health outcomes. The three main active waiting lists for outpatients, inpatient and day cases, and GI scopes have increased by 10% (+72,180) so far in 2026.
In January alone, almost 24,500 hospital appointments and operations were cancelled across the country, 7,400 (30%) of which were in the HSE Dublin and Midland Region.2 The Midlands Regional Hospitals were praised by the Minister for Health in February for demonstrating their “operational grip” on reducing their average trolley counts.
In contrast, the HSE Mid-West, which has come under heavy criticism for its persistent problem with admitted patients being treated on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick, saw the fewest number of hospital cancellations in January, at just 428 across the region.
Last year saw more than 286,500 elective surgeries, endoscopies, day case treatments and outpatient appointments cancelled – an increase of more than 19,000 (+7%) on the 267,400 reported in 2024.3
The IHCA said the cancellation of elective, essential hospital appointments and operations cannot be the go-to solution to our trolley crisis, as it will lead to severe adverse consequences for patient health outcomes, and do nothing to address the extreme lack of capacity and overcrowding at our hospitals. It added that since the Sláinteacre report was published in May 2017, hospital waiting lists have grown by a staggering 425,000 – a 73% increase.
Commenting on today’s record waiting list figures, IHCA President Professor Gabrielle Colleran said:
“No hospital consultant wants to tell a patient waiting for essential surgery that their critical treatment has been cancelled and, worse still, that they do not know when it will be rescheduled. Alongside hampering diagnosis, treatment and delivery of care, this also has a severe impact on already excessive waiting lists, as we see in today’s NTPF data.
“We cannot allow scheduled care to be seen as an ‘optional extra’ in the delivery of healthcare. The persistent trolley crisis in our hospitals is a direct result of chronic bed shortages and limited step-down capacity, and responding to these deficits by simply cancelling life enhancing surgery is completely unacceptable and poorly thought-out.
“We urge the Department of Health and HSE to reverse this negative policy and come to the table with long term and sustainable solutions that our patients deserve. That includes ensuring that the productivity of our limited consultant capacity is maximised by having them working alongside their multi-disciplinary teams.
“The IHCA remains ready to collaborate constructively with the HSE and Department of Health to address the growing waiting list and will continue to offer solutions rooted in the daily realities of clinical care.”
ENDS
1. NTFP waiting list data as at end of May 2026 (published 12th June): https://www.ntpf.ie/waiting-list-data/
2. HSE PQ response to Deputy David Cullinane, 9 March 2026: https://about.hse.ie/api/v2/download-file/file_based_publications/PQ_15188-26_-_David_Cullinane.pdf/
3. Department of Health press statement, 16 February 2026: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-health/press-releases/minister-for-health-highlights-sustained-improvements-in-urgent-and-emergency-care-performance/
4. HSE PQ response to Deputy David Cullinane, 9 February 2026: https://about.hse.ie/api/v2/download-file/file_based_publications/PQ_6231-26_-_David_Cullinane.pdf/
Further Information:
JP Hughes, Head of Communications & Strategy, Office of the CEO
Irish Hospital Consultants Association
Email: jphughes@ihca.ie, Tel: 085 77 66 393