Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 6 Oct 1999

Vol. 508 No. 4

Written Answers. - Hospital Waiting Lists.

John McGuinness

Question:

176 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps, if any, he will take to reduce the waiting lists for hip replacements in the South-Eastern Health Board region; the number of patients waiting; the length of time they will have to wait; if his Department will encourage the health board to carry out more of these operations at Kilcreene, County Kilkenny; and if, in the case of a person (details supplied), an urgent operation will be arranged in view of her medical circumstances. [19328/99]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Cowen)

The provision of medical services to eligible persons is a matter for the South-Eastern Health Board in the first instance. I have asked the chief executive officer of the board to investigate the position in relation to this case and to reply to the Deputy directly. The scheduling of appointments is a matter for the clinical judgment of the consultant concerned and is based solely on the patient's condition and not on the length of time on the waiting list. The board received funding of £697,000 under the waiting list initiative in 1998 which represented an increase of 44 per cent on the funding approved by the previous Government in 1997. In 1999, I provided a total of £1,351,000 to the South-Eastern Health Board under the waiting list initiative. The board's waiting list returns for the quarter ended 30 June 1999 indicate that a reduction of 140, or 21.3 per cent, has already been achieved in the numbers waiting for orthopaedic surgery since the start of the year. This represents an overall reduction of 25 per cent in the numbers waiting for orthopaedic surgery since end of December 1997.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that nationally, the waiting list figures at the end of June 1999 show a reduction of 1,072 on the March figures. This means that waiting lists have fallen by almost 3,000, 8 per cent, since the beginning of this year. The reductions in March and June 1999 are the first since December 1996. The results are the first time in which waiting lists have fallen in two successive quarters.

Since coming into office I have taken an integrated approach to the problem of waiting lists. As the Deputy will be aware, I commissioned a review of the waiting list initiative. I am now implementing a series of measures aimed at tackling the root causes of waiting lists. I allocated £20 million this year to agencies specifically to undertake waiting list work, with £3 million of this funding being allocated to the agencies who achieved the greatest improvements in their waiting lists in the first quarter of the year. This was in line with the recommendations of the review group report.

I also allocated £9 million to services to older people and £2 million to accident and emergency services, with the aim of freeing acute hospital beds by ensuring the streamlining of emergency services and providing additional step-down and rehabilitation facilities for older people.

I am confident that the measures I have taken in tackling waiting lists represents the best way of addressing the underlying causes of waiting lists and long waiting times.

Ulick Burke

Question:

177 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Health and Children his views on the long delay for children to receive speech therapy in County Galway; the plans, if any, he has to provide adequate finance to improve the situation in view of the fact that the Western Health Board has indicated it cannot fund any development in this service at present; the number and age range of persons requiring this service; the number receiving support from this service; the time given to persons receiving this service and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19329/99]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Cowen)

The current speech and language therapy case load for Galway is 843, the adult case load is 64, the child case load is 776 and older persons case load is three. The number of children currently awaiting initial assessments is 240 and the number awaiting treatment is 535. The number of adults awaiting assessment is 62.

The time given to persons requiring speech and language therapy services depends on the problem presenting and may necessitate anything from six to eight therapy sessions, up to five years intensive therapy.

At present there are 7.5 whole time equivalent speech and language therapists working in County Galway. The Western Health Board's speech and language therapy plan is to provide 11,100 treatments in the current year and to date they are on target.

The provision of health services, including speech and language therapy services is a matter for the relevant health board. The health boards decide, in consultation with their local co-ordinating committees for physical and sensory disabilities, the priorities for development of services in their functional area. In 1999 a total of £3 million, rising to £6 million in the year 2000, was provided to the health boards for the development of services to people with physical and sensory disability services. Of this funding £300,000, rising to £600,000 in the year 2000, was provided to the Western Health Board.