It has been revealed that 782 women have been waiting over 12 months for gynaecology appointments at Letterkenny University Hospital.

191 of those women have been waiting 18 months or more to access outpatient appointments.

Figures from the Irish Hospital Consultants Association on Monday showed that 1,783 Donegal women were waiting to be seen at Letterkenny University Hospital – which is the fifth-highest waiting list in the country.

Following this revelation, Donegal Action for Cancer Care sought detailed information from LUH on the issue.

Sean Murphy, General Manager of LUH, said that the hospital has seen its gynaecology waiting list rise over the last 5 years, in line with the national increase.

He said that the hospital has commenced the process of recruiting a fifth Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and it is anticipated that this post will be advertised in the coming weeks.

“If a person is waiting for an outpatient appointment to see a gynaecologist, this could be for a number of reasons, such as investigation or treatment of pelvic pain, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, menopause, infertility, polycystic ovarian disease, etc,” Mr Murphy said.

“Letterkenny University Hospital regrets that any patient should experience long waiting times to access an outpatient appointment. Hospital management and the gynaecology team have been working to reduce the length of time women wait to be seen in the gynaecology service and most importantly, ensure that high risk referrals are seen promptly.”

A dedicated Post Menopausal Bleeding Clinic was started in 2018 to treat women with symptoms that may indicate a risk of endometrial cancer. The waiting time to be seen in this clinic is 2 to 4 weeks.

Other waiting times vary at the out-patient Gynaecology Clinics. A breakdown, which was shared with Donegal Action for Cancer Care is as follows: