I have allocated in excess of £124 million to the Western Health Board this year for the provision of health services. The provision and funding of the ENT service in the Western Health Board area is a matter for the board in the first instance. The question of extending this service is for the board to decide in the light of their overall financial position and their priorities for service development.
As the Deputy will appreciate, waiting times for patients depend on the medical condition of the individual patient, and waiting lists are kept under regular review by the consultants concerned. Priority is accorded to each patient on the basis of medical need.
In 1990, a total of 1,679 ENT inpatients were treated. This represented an increase in throughput of 10 per cent over 1989 figures and an increase of 19 per cent over the number of patients treated in 1988.
I am aware that the position with regard to waiting times for ENT patients at University College Hospital, Galway, has been exacerbated by the departure in early 1990 of one of the three ENT surgeons in the unit. The Western Health Board did, however, appoint a replacement surgeon in February 1991 and I expect that this should improve waiting times over the coming months.
In addition, the day surgery unit for which I provided a grant of £200,000 is now fully functional and this too will help to increase the throughput of ENT patients.