Vol. 431 No. 8
70 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the delays in dealing with cataract patients in the Western Health Board are causing distress to the sufferers; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
86 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the delays in dealing with cataract patients in the Western Health Board area; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Question Nos. 70 and 86, together.
The Deputy will appreciate that the treatment of a patient is a matter for the consultant concerned and urgent cases are always accorded priority. Should a patient be concerned about his or her condition, they should return to their general practitioner who would be in the best position to stress the urgency of their case directly to the consultant at the hospital.
The Deputy will be aware that I recently launched a £20 million Major Action Programme in relation to hospital in-patient waiting lists which was specifically targeted at those areas of hospital treatment where long waiting times are causing the greatest hardship. These areas include Orthopaedics (hip replacement and other procedures); Ophthalmology (cataracts and other procedures); Ear, Nose and Throat; Cardiac Surgery (by-pass operations); Vascular Surgery (varicose veins) and Plastic Surgery. The aim is to eliminate waiting lists in excess of 12 months in these particular specialties and to set a maximum period of six months for children awaiting ENT or eye treatment.
The Deputy will be pleased to learn that I have allocated £2,192,600 to the Western Health Board under the Major Action Programme. This money will be used to carry out an additional 524 ophthalmology procedures of which 250 will be cataracts. These will make significant inroads in the waiting times for these procedures and in the case of children will eliminate all those waiting over six months.
