New public hospital waiting lists have just been released for Ireland and wait for it – the number of people on waiting lists fell by over 200 last month.

You read it here first. Yes, that’s right 200. What an achievement!

The April waiting lists from the National Treatment Purchase Fund show there are 850,109 people in Ireland waiting for some form of treatment, or to be seen at an outpatient clinic.

It compares with a figure of 850,230 the previous month.

For inpatient or day case treatment alone, 79,943 people are waiting.

The number on outpatient waiting lists is 624,773.

That is a staggering increase of over 50% over the past five years.

Not surprisingly, hospital consultants are less than impressed.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association have said that hospital waiting lists are longer than ever now at the halfway point of the national health reforms, called SlainteCare.

Consultants say that the waiting list targets are not achievable because public hospitals have a severe shortage of consultants, theatres, acute beds, diagnostic and other facilities.

The IHCA has said that the target to have all inpatient or day case treatments done within 12 weeks remains decades away.

It is a bleak and depressing situation for patients waiting for care.