Thousands of sick children are waiting between one and four years or more to see a consultant in public outpatients at Dublin's two largest children's hospitals.

The numbers include many children with heart, brain, ENT, eye, rheumatic and kidney conditions enduring long waits for specialist consultations to decide on their treatment.

Over 30,000 child patients in total are on outpatient lists at Crumlin and Temple Street Hospitals, with over 8,000 children waiting more than a year to see a consultant at these hospitals.

A total of 15,762 children are on outpatient lists in all waiting time categories at Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin. Of these, 4,706 child patients are waiting over a year for a consultant outpatient appointment, according to latest Department of Health statistics.

Of these, 3,351 patients are waiting between one and two years for a paediatric outpatient appointment at the hospital, 1,326 patients are waiting between two and three years, while 27 are waiting between three and four years and two patients are listed as waiting over four years.

A specialty breakdown of the Crumlin list shows that 1,143 child patients waiting between one and three years to see a heart specialist.

In addition, 977 patients are waiting one to three years to see an ENT specialist, 923 are waiting the same period to see an eye specialist and 114 are waiting between one and three years to see a rheumatologist. A total of 668 children are waiting at Crumlin for one to four years or more to see an orthopaedic surgeon.

A total of 91 children are waiting between one and three years to see a neurologist at Crumlin outpatients. The number of patients waiting over a year for an outpatient visit at Crumlin has increased by 9% since January.

On the other side of the city, 15,310 child patients are on the outpatient waiting list at Temple Street Hospital, with 3,419 child patients waiting over a year for an outpatient visit at Temple Street.

Of these, 100 children have been waiting over four years to see a consultant, 57 have been waiting between three and four years and 688 between two and three years, according to the figures published by the Department's National Treatment Purchase Fund.

A specialty breakdown of the Temple Street waiting list shows at 406 patients are waiting over two years for an ENT consultation, including six waiting over four years, while 112 patients are waiting between two and three years to see a heart specialist at Temple Street. Seventy-three patients are waiting between one and over over four years to see a kidney specialist at the North Dublin hospital.

The latest outpatient waiting list figures, which are for the end of September, show that a total of 386,384 adults and children nationwide are on public hospital outpatient waiting lists, compared to 374,105 in August.

Nationally, there has been an 18% reduction since March in the numbers of adults and children waiting over a year for an outpatient appointment.

However, the number coming on to outpatient lists and waiting between zero and six months has increased, and the number of longer waiters is still substantial, with 83,423 currently waiting between one and four years or more for an outpatient consultation.

The Department of Health and the HSE have set a target of having no patient waiting longer than a year for an outpatient appointment by the end of 2013.