Vol. 449 No. 8
25 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Health his views on the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women that the ethics committees should not be allowed to decide whether or not sterilisations should be carried out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4560/95]
38 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Health the plans, if any, he has to allocate funds to hospitals to enable them eliminate the waiting lists for tubal ligations: the number of people on the waiting lists for this procedure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4559/95]
Limerick East): I propose to take Questions Nos. 25 and 38 together.
I understand that certain voluntary hospitals have ethical codes which set out the circumstances in which sterilisations may be carried out.
There are some 27 health board and voluntary hospitals throughout the country which provide sterilisation services.It should be noted that this represents an increase of eight hospitals since the commission reported in January 1993.
Under the terms of the charter of rights for hospital patients, when a recommended medical procedure is not available at a particular hospital, the patient has the right to ask her consultant to transfer her elsewhere, where the procedure is available.
There are a total of 1,965 patients awaiting tubal ligation procedures in hospitals where this procedure is available.A number of hospitals do not maintain formal waiting lists in respect of patients requiring tubal ligations since there is no waiting time in these hospitals once the decision to proceed with the operation has been made. A particular problem has arisen at the South Infirmary/Victoria Hospital in Cork, which has a waiting list of 875. The Department is in continuing discussions with the hospital to agree measures to resolve this problem.
While the detailed allocation of the funding available for the reduction of waiting lists in 1995 has not yet been finalised, resources will continue to be targeted at those areas where waiting times for surgery are excessively long. Discussions with health agencies will commence shortly with a view to identifying those areas where the resources available this year can be employed to maximum effect. The question of allocating resources in respect of tubal ligation waiting lists will be examined in this context.
