Vol. 549 No. 1
64 Mr. Sheehan asked the Minister for Health and Children his response to facts uncovered in a newspaper report (details supplied) that more than 100,000 outpatients are not taken into account when waiting list data is compiled. [5849/02]
Under the waiting list initiative, which was introduced in 1993, dedicated funding is made available to health agencies to enable hospitals to carry out additional in-patient waiting list procedures. In order to monitor the performance of health agencies under this initiative, my Department collects and evaluates in-patient waiting list figures on a quarterly basis. There is no corresponding dedicated funding line in the case of out-patient services and, as a result, my Department does not collect or publish information, nationally, on out-patient waiting lists. The management and monitoring of the out-patient waiting lists is a matter for the health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority in the first instance.
