Vol. 478 No. 1
84 Mr. Cowen asked the Minister for Health the reason the hospital waiting lists to March 1997 are not currently available in view of advances in technology; the number of people currently on hospital waiting lists, if such figures are now available, at the end of March 1997; and if he will give details of the waiting list for each procedure in each hospital in each of the eight health board areas. [10695/97]
Limerick East): Hospital waiting lists are compiled in the first instance from the records of individual consultants in each of the acute hospitals throughout the country. Where appropriate, these figures are then collated by the relevant health board and forwarded to my Department for collation. While advances in information technology have speeded up the process of data collection in certain hospitals, a significant proportion of this information must be compiled and validated manually. I am sure the Deputy will appreciate the time-consuming nature of this exercise and the care which is necessary to ensure that the figures published at the end of each quarter are correct. I wish to assure the Deputy that every effort is made to complete the compilation of the figures as soon as possible after the end of the period in question and I will write to the Deputy with the information requested as soon as it is available.
