Jack Wall
Question:228 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Health and Children the number on the waiting list for ear, nose and throat treatment in the Eastern Health Board region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19851/99]
Written Answers. - Hospital Waiting Lists.
The number of people awaiting ear, nose and throat treatment in the Eastern Health Board region as at 30 June 1999, the latest date for which information is available, is 3,291. Of these 3,291 people, 2,132 are adults and 1,159 are children.
In 1999, I provided over £6 million to the hospitals in the Eastern Health Board region area under the waiting list initiative.
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, some 8 per cent, since the beginning of this year. The reduction 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.