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Ireland has the longest hospital waiting times in Europe, according to a new report.

Irish patients had to wait more than three hours for treatment on average last year, which is longer than that of lower income countries such as Macedonia and Slovenia.

And while we came last on the list for waiting times, the Euro Health Consumer Index ranked Ireland 21st out of 36 for our overall healthcare system.

In 2015, the think-tank set Ireland the target of having no patients wait longer than 18 months for specialist treatment.

But this latest report chides: "Even if and when that target is reached, it'll still be the worst in Europe."

This comes as waiting times in Irish hospitals reached record levels of over 500,000 in December.

The report praised Ireland for its tobacco control measures and access to new medicines.

(Image: PA)

It said that Ireland's per capita spend on drugs was among the highest in Europe, ranking in eighth place.

While it's cancer survival rate also placed Ireland eighth.

The report noted that Ireland is one of four European countries where free abortion rights do not exist.

But it noted that Ireland no longer has a total ban on abortion.

"New Irish legislation allows for abortion in extreme circumstances and subject to external verdict.

"It has been well known for centuries that stigmatizing or banning abortion results in tragedies such as the female dentist [Savita Halappanavar] who died in a Galway hospital because doctors did not dare/want to perform an abortion on her (already dying) foetus."

(Image: Getty)

The top ranking countries overall were the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium and Iceland.

The HSE have announced a €14 billion national service plan for 2017.

The new budget, an increase of €458 million on 2016, works out at over €27,000 per minute to run the health system.

In response, the HSE said: “The HSE acknowledges in its 2017 Service Plan there are ongoing and significant management challenges to balance demands and needs and that the health service continues to deliver its services in an environment where the population is growing, the number of people seeking to access services is higher than ever before and where public expectations for quality services continue to increase.

“Although the overall length of time people spend on waiting lists has improved in recent years, the total numbers waiting, and the numbers waiting in excess of four months for out-patient assessment and in-patient treatment, are unacceptably and unsustainably high.

“The HSE is working to ensure that no one is waiting more than 18 months for an out-patient appointment or inpatient treatment.”