Patient advocates have called for a taskforce to tackle chronic public patient wait times.
Naas out of the 41 hospitals that are ranked, is 13th on the list for wait times, with an average wait time between seeing the consultant and getting an operation of 16 months, according to the Irish Patients Association (IPA).
IPA Co - Founder Stephen McMahon said this was just the weighted average for the hospital, most likely there are people in Kildare who are waiting two or three years, he said.
"Nationally there's over 500,000 people waiting on their first appointment to see a consultant, in Naas that's almost 9,000," he explained.
Patient advocates have called for a taskforce to tackle chronic public patient wait times as figures show thousands of people are waiting up to two years to see a consultant and have surgery.
Figures released by the IPA for July show that patients in Letterkenny, Cork, Galway, Sligo, and Limerick, face the longest waits, with the hospitals in those areas also seeing emergency department overcrowding in the past year.
Mr McMahon said it should not just be about the numbers on the waiting list, speaking on Monday's Kildare Focus, he said it must also be about the length of time people are waiting,“It is a better indicator for the patient’s experience."
Listen back to the full interview here, Irish Patients Association, Co - Founder Stephen McMahon, who spoke with Eoin Beatty on Monday's Kildare Focus:
Spotlight On Kildare: New Project Highlights Fatalities During Irish Civil War
"I know he intended to kill me that night" - Woman Tells Of Brutal Assault In Naas, With Sentence Looming For Kildare Man
Kildare Ranks Among Top Five Counties For Claims Involving Uninsured Cars
Funding Allocated For Projects In Calverstown & Kildare Town
Public Meeting Takes Place To Discuss Local Issues In Allenwood Tonight
116 New Student Accommodation Beds Promised For Maynooth University As Part Of Govt. Investment
Mid-East Region Grapples With Rising Homelessness: 149 Children, 297 Single Adults Among Those in Need
Gardaí Appealing For Information In The Whereabouts Of Two Teenage Girls In Kildare
