The Health Department says that it aims to see patients 90 days following referral, but the most up-to-date information shows that the average current wait for Islanders to see the service is 385 days.
The information is now published each month following a decision by Health Minister Richard Renouf.
The figures are due to be updated on the first working day of each month, one month in arrears, and the latest data relates to Hospital waiting times in
August.
According to the statistics, Islanders had on average a 55-week wait for a hospital appointment in August – a nine-week increase on the previous month.
Long average waiting times have plagued the dental department in recent years and in the past six months alone the average waiting time has been 47 weeks or 330
days.
Meanwhile, according to the statistics, there was a 17-week wait for Islanders requiring a procedure or operation within the community health dental services department in August. This is the same average waiting period as the previous
month.
The Health Department says that once received, referrals are prioritised and added to the outpatient waiting list. The most urgent patients are scheduled first.
Meanwhile, in comparison to the previous month, the waiting times for diabetes medicine dropped from 21 weeks to 16 weeks and from 27 weeks to 19 weeks in the dermatology unit.
