More than 30,000 hospital appointments cancelled in just over a year

More than 30,000 Cork hospital appointments were cancelled in less than a year and a half, new data has shown.

Information provided by the HSE shows that between January 1, 2025, and May 15, 2026, a total of 30,572 hospital appointments were cancelled — an average of more than 60 a day.

A total of 25,144 of the cancellations were at Cork University Hospital, where 18,470 appointments were cancelled last year, and a further 6,674 in 2026 to mid-May.

The figures equate to about 1,539 cancellations per month on average, up significantly from the monthly average of 840 in 2023 previously reported by The Echo.

It comes as Cork University Hospital’s chief executive, Jennifer Kearney, recently warned in a letter to HSE management that the hospital is short more than 1,000 staff, and that it is unsafe to head into winter with such staffing uncertainty.

Health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill pushed back on this, insisting CUH meets all required safety standards, has recruited more staff than any other Model 4 hospital this year, and is already operating over budget.

From the start of 2025 to mid-May this year, there were also 3,431 cancellations at Mercy University Hospital, 1,084 at South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital, and 651 at Bantry General Hospital. Mallow General Hospital had 107, and Cork University Maternity Hospital 65 cancellations.

South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital had already reached 463 cancellations by May 15, about 75% of its 2025 total.

A HSE spokesperson said: “Hospitals make every effort to minimise cancellations and avoid disruption to patients wherever possible.

“Where an appointment does need to be cancelled, hospitals seek to reschedule the patient at the earliest possible opportunity and, where feasible, to the nearest available appointment date.”

Hospitals may need to cancel or reschedule appointments for a range of reasons, including that the consultant or their team was on leave, a patient was treated elsewhere, or was admitted to the hospital as an inpatient thus not requiring the appointment anymore or, on occasion, adverse weather conditions, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added: “The priority is to ensure that patients are kept informed of any changes and that any unavoidable cancellation has the minimum possible impact on their care and waiting time.”

The figures were provided to Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould, who said: “This is more than 30,000 cancellations in less than 18 months, but it also, crucially, represents thousands of people waiting for a vital appointment, only to receive a cancellation.

“I have been contacted by people in crippling pain or awaiting potentially life-changing test results who have had their appointments cancelled.

“These figures, particularly for CUH, are a sign of hospitals in crisis. They show that the CEO of the CUH is right and the minister is wrong to say otherwise. Every cancellation is concern for a family, stress for a patient, and delayed healthcare.”