Just under 2,000 women are waiting to see a gynaecologist at University Hospital Galway at present.

There are more than 28,000 women nationally waiting for such appointments, with 5,000 waiting for more than a year.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association says the consultant recruitment and retention crisis is a major cause of the delays.

Gynaecologist Dr. Nóirín Russell says women will have delayed cancer diagnoses as a result.