Doctors and nurses have warned that hospital waiting lists will continue to grow next year, as the budget allocation for the health service in 2015 will not be enough to cope with the expected increased patient demand.

Responding to Budget 2015, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) insisted that the health services will remain under ‘severe' financial pressure next year and waiting lists, ward closures and cancelled procedures ‘will continue unaltered'.

"Clearly the Government has chosen to prioritise other areas over health. After the local elections the Government rushed around promising all sorts of actions on health. Now their attention has switched to water charges and social housing. These are all worthy issues, but it is a tragedy that health has lost the attention of the Government at a critical juncture," commented IMO president, Prof Trevor Duffy.

He insisted that ‘nobody will notice any improvement in the health services' as a result of Budget 2015.

Also commenting on the Budget, Dr Gerard Crotty, president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), said that the funding announced for next year ‘is insufficient to offset the underfunding in this year's budget and repeated cuts in recent years'.

"Additional funding to treat a growing number of patients in public hospitals is required because of our increasing and ageing population and reductions in health insurance coverage," he said.

Meanwhile, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), the budget allocation for health next year will ‘not be sufficient to address major shortcomings facing the health service'.

"It should be acknowledged that this is the first time in seven years when the health service has not been faced with a further real cut in its allocation. However, this allocation will only reflect the actual expenditure incurred in 2014, during which time waiting lists lengthened, ED overcrowding increased and community and other home help services were reduced," commented INMO general secretary, Liam Doran.

He added that the health service requires ‘major increased investment by Government' so that it can meet the ‘ever increasing demands' being placed upon it.