Frances Fitzgerald
Question:50 Ms F. Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Health the number of children currently on the waiting lists in the Dublin area for eye operations; and the approximate waiting time on such lists.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Written Answers. - Waiting Lists for Eye Operations.
As of 31 December 1993, there were a total of 83 children on the in-patient waiting list for ophthalmology procedures in the Dublin area. As a direct result of the Government's £20 million waiting list initiative last year, the number of children waiting over six months at June, 1993 was reduced from 334 to 42 at December 1993, a reduction of 87 per cent. My Department is currently collecting and collating the waiting list figures for the quarter ended 31 March 1994.
The Government is anxious to build on the success of the 1993 initiative. The continuation of the initiative in 1994, with the special allocation of £10 million, will enable further inroads to be made in target areas including ophthalmology. I will be announcing details of the 1994 initiative in the near future.
Information relating to approximate waiting times is not routinely collected by my Department.