Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 May 2024
114. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Health the number of people awaiting on a first outpatient appointment in the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital; the average waiting time for a first outpatient appointment; and the number waiting more than two years for a first appointment. [21937/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is acknowledged that many patients are still waiting too long for hospital appointments and treatments.
As part of the multi-annual approach to reducing waiting lists, and just as importantly the length of time that patients are waiting, I published the 2024 Waiting List Action Plan on 27th March. Total funding of €360 million has been provided for the plan this year which sets out 19 Actions across three themes: Delivering Capacity, Reforming Scheduled Care and Enabling Scheduled Care Reform.
The Waiting List Action Plan, multi-annual approach, initiated in 2021, encompasses a two-pronged approach of short-term actions to increase capacity and activity in the short to immediate term, and longer-term reform measures to sustainably reduce and reform hospital waiting lists and waiting times. The 2024 Plan builds on the work of previous plans which have achieved significant progress in overall waiting list reduction and in addressing long waiting times, against a backdrop of significantly increased demand for scheduled care services. This year’s plan aims to achieve a reduction in the overall number of patients on waiting lists while three of the four overarching targets in the Plan are specifically focused on improving waiting times.
With regard to the information requested by the Deputy, the National Treatment Purchase Fund has provided my Department with the information set out at the link. The table outlines the number of patients on the Outpatient waiting list for the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in the time bands requested at the end of April 2024. The NTPF has advised my Department that the health system does not collect the data necessary to calculate average wait times. In particular, the time to treatment of patients who have already received their care is not collected.
The NTPF collects data on patients currently on the waiting list, and the average time these patients have been waiting is set out at the following link.
Outpatient waiting list for the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital
