Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 5 Apr 2000

Vol. 517 No. 4

Written Answers. - Hospital Services.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

196 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of patients diagnosed as requiring surgery for the removal of cataracts for each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10159/00]

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

198 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of patients awaiting hip operations at the end of each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10161/00]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 196 and 198 together.

The hospital in-patient waiting list data requested by the Deputy is set out on the following table.

Year ending	Awaiting Cataract Surgery	Awaiting Hip Operations
31 Dec 1997	2,155	1,400
31 Dec 1998	3,110	1,590
31 Dec 1999	3,336	1,383

The multi-faceted nature of the issue of waiting lists was considered by the expert review group which reported to my predecessor in 1998. I am currently reviewing progress to date in the implementation of the wide-ranging measures of a short, medium and longer term nature recommended in that report. In attaching a serious priority to tackling lengthy waiting lists and times, I believe that there are a number of practical steps that can be taken to accelerate progress, including achieving more flexible use of available capacity and closer collaborative arrangements between the different parts of the system. Taken together with longer term measures associated with the investment of resources available under the national development plan, my aim is to achieve real progress in addressing the under-lying causes of poor accessibility to certain services. I intend to address these issues and am confident of achieving real progress in the area of waiting lists and more importantly waiting times.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

197 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of patients diagnosed as needing heart operations for each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10160/00]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

The information requested by the Deputy is not routinely collected by my Department. However, I have asked the relevant hospitals to collate the information which will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.