Cork University Maternity Hospital has almost halved the number of people waiting for an outpatient appointment to see a gynaecologist.
In April, 2017, the hospital's outpatient waiting list was the worst of any maternity hospital in the country, peaking at 4,700 people.
The waiting list currently stands at 2,700 and consultants at the hospital have committed to a schedule of 500 extra appointments this week alone.
They have called the initiative Gynaecology 500 Week, and staff at all levels throughout the hospital have signed up to be part of it.
Up to now, appointments have been scheduled at night and on Saturdays to reduce the waiting list.
The huge waiting list led to a number of crisis meetings between Minister for Health Simon Harris, hospital management and consultants there in early 2017.
Mr Harris accepted the size of the waiting list was unacceptable, and committed to providing additional funding and resources to reduce it.
Among the 4,700 people waiting for an appointment to see a consultant were many who were waiting for up to three years.
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Among those was mother-of-two Brigid McCarthy from Clonakilty in west Cork.
Three years ago she had a routine smear test, after which she was referred by her GP for an outpatient appointment at Cork University Maternity Hospital.
Since then Brigid has been waiting.
But today, after 141 weeks on the list, she was finally seen by a consultant.
She described her appointment as a great start to 2019.
Clinical Director of Cork University Maternity Hospital, Professor John Higgins, and Obstetrician and Uro-Gynaecologist Orfhlaith O'Sullivan were among a group of staff who put a plan in place to end the waiting.
Prof Higgins has briefed local politicians on the progress of the plan. He told them the next step would be to open a second operating theatre at Cork University Maternity Hospital.
The theatre was one of two provided when the hospital opened in 2007, but it has never opened.
