Vol. 519 No. 2
201 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make a statement on recent comments by a person (details supplied) in County Galway that existing waiting list figures have been massaged to project a serious underestimation of the problem and that those waiting less than three months for hospital treatment are not included in those statistics. [13576/00]
There is no question of any manipulation of waiting list information to project an underestimation of the problem. The expert review group on the waiting list initiative that reported in June 1998 considered that a waiting list comprises all persons who, following referral to a hospital consultant, have been listed by the consultant for treatment as a public in-patient or day case and who must wait until the necessary hospital facilities are available for such treatment. Patients who are offered an appointment for treatment within three months of being seen at out-patients are not considered, in this context, to be on a waiting list for treatment. This principle has been applied since the introduction of the waiting list initiative in 1993. The Royal College of Surgeons is currently drawing up agreed protocols for the prioritisation and validation of waiting list cases at my Department's request. It is expected that its report will be available to my Department shortly and will inform consideration of future guidelines in this area.
