There are significant variations in the length of time patients have to wait for similar procedures at different Dublin hospitals.
Figures compiled by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) indicate patients have to wait an average of 14 months for hip replacement operations at the Mater hospital compared to nine months at Beaumont, eight months at St Vincent's and three months at Tallaght.
Meanwhile, a patient requiring a hernia repair operation will have to wait five times longer on average if they are referred to Tallaght hospital than the Mater or St James's. At these last two hospitals the average waiting time is two months, compared to 10 months at Tallaght.
For coronary angiograms - a special X-ray of the heart to see if the coronary arteries are blocked - patients may spend more than two years (27 months) on a waiting list at Beaumont Hospital compared to just four months for the same procedure at Tallaght, three months at St Vincent's and two months at the Mater.
The figures, which relate to average waiting times for common types of elective surgery, are collected by the NTPF, as it is now responsible for all waiting list figures. To date it has collected this type of data from seven hospitals, but hopes to make similar information on waiting times for elective procedures at all hospitals across the State available later this year.
The data can be viewed by patients on the NTPF's patient treatment register website.
The information also shows patients can wait an average of 12 months for treatment of varicose veins at Tallaght, but only three months for the same treatment at the Mater and St James's.
There are also large variations in the average waiting time for gall-bladder removal at the capital's hospitals. Those who opt to attend St Vincent's or the Mater will wait about three months, while those who go to Tallaght may have to wait five months, those attending Beaumont six months. The longest waiting time is at Connolly hospital in Blanchardstown, where patients can wait on average 10 months.
Anyone requiring a knee replacement will wait an average three months for surgery at Tallaght and six months at St Vincent's.
Dr Asam Ishtiaq, president of the Irish Medical Organisation and a consultant surgeon in the west, said the variations in waiting times were probably due to availability of beds in individual hospitals. He said some hospitals tended to do more elective work than emergency work and vice versa, which could further explain the variations.
The differences in waiting times may partly explain why patients in the regions are asking to be referred to specific Dublin hospitals for certain procedures, choosing those with the shortest waiting times.
This influx of patients from the regions for procedures available in their own areas is something the Health Service Executive is seeking to stop this year, in an attempt to reduce pressure on beds and thus A&E overcrowding in Dublin hospitals.
Dr Jerry Cowley, a Mayo GP and Independent TD, said yesterday patients in his region could wait up to a year for a hip operation and it was not surprising that they would opt to travel to a hospital like Tallaght where the average waiting time was just three months.