1 in 4 people in Ireland are on some form of health service waiting list and in need of care.
New figures obtained by Sinn Fein show at least 1.3 million people are on hospital, diagnostics or therapy waiting lists.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association says there has been a 54 percent increase in people waiting for treatments since the launch of the Slaintecare plan in 2017.
Sinn Fein Health Spokesman David Cullinane says the recruitment and retention issues in the HSE are leading to patients going without essential care:
"Unless we get to grips with the workforce element of it which, in my view, is one of the big reasons where we have high wait times, I think we're going to continue to see these type of very high numbers of people waiting, not just in community care services, but also across diagnostic care and acute hospital care as well".
