Vol. 490 No. 7
173 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of cardiac operations carried out in each of the past five years; the number of people on waiting lists for cardiac surgery; the average waiting time; whether he has set aside money for a waiting list initiative in the cardiac area during the course of 1998; and, if so, the impact on waiting lists which this will have. [11020/98]
Cardiac surgery in the public health sector is currently carried out at three centres. Adult cardiac surgery is performed at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital and Cork University Hospital. Paediatric cardiac surgery is performed at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin.
The following numbers of cardiac surgery procedures were carried out in each of the last five years: 1,181 in 1993; 1,299 in 1994; 1,500 in 1995; 1,551 in 1996 and 1,660 in 1997.
On 29 January 1998 I was pleased to announce a comprehensive package of proposals aimed at reducing mortality from cardiovascular disease. Included in this was the development of additional adult public cardiac surgery facilities at St. James's Hospital, Dublin and University College Hospital, Galway which will help reduce the waiting lists which exist at present.
Public patient waiting list statistics are collected by hospitals and furnished to my Department on a quarterly basis. At the end of December 1997, the most recent period for which information is available, there were 1,371 patients awaiting cardiac surgery. I understand that the average waiting time is approximately two years.
I will shortly be allocating funding under the 1998 waiting list initiative, specifically for cardiac surgery patients. I am confident that this will have a significant impact on the 1998 waiting list figures. However, at this stage I am not in a position to be definitive about year end figures, given the difficulty in predicting with accuracy how demand will evolve over the course of the year.
