Vol. 555 No. 2
87 Ms B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Health and Children the total number on hospital waiting lists at the latest date for which figures are available; the comparable figure for the same date in the previous year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18053/02]
The total number of people on public hospital waiting lists at 31 March 2002, the latest date for which figures have been published, was 25,105. The comparable figure for 31 March 2001 was 26,382. This represents a decrease of 5% on the comparable figure for March 2001.
In the period March 2001 to March 2002 there has been a reduction of 62% in the number of adults waiting more than 12 months for cardiac surgery and a reduction of 67% in the number of children waiting more than six months for cardiac surgery. There has been a reduction of 34% in the number of adults waiting for more than 12 months for ENT procedures and a fall of 33% in the number of adults waiting more than 12 months for ophthalmology procedures in the period March 2001 to March 2002.
Hospital waiting lists must be viewed against a background of a hospital system which discharged some 920,000 in-patients and day cases in 2001. This represents an overall increase of 42,000 discharges or 5% over the figure for 2000. Day case activity has increased by 10% from 324,000 day case discharges in 2000 to 359,000 day case discharges in 2001.
The health strategy contains a commitment that the management and organisation of waiting lists will be reformed. There has been a rapid movement in the last few years towards day case work where a variety of routine and complex treatments, surgery and diagnostic tests can now be performed with the patient being admitted and discharged from hospital on the same day. The settings for day case work vary from traditional theatres to specially constructed day surgery units and treatment rooms. The ability to carry out day case procedures has increased the efficiency of the hospital system to the extent that half of all elective surgery is now done on a day case basis. Increased use of day surgery will improve the efficiency of the hospital system and provide speedier access to services for the patient and reduce waiting times.
The Department has set out to regularise and standardise the reporting of waiting lists. However, there are a number of defining issues surrounding day case work that need to be addressed to allow consistent and comparative analysis across the hospital system. The Department is continuing to work closely with health agencies with regard to these issues and hopes to be in a position to publish the first complete set of data on day case waiting lists and on waiting times in the near future.
The health strategy places a new focus on waiting times. While the waiting list initiative will continue to fund additional elective activity, a new dedicated national treatment purchase fund is being used to target those waiting longest for treatment by purchasing treatments for public patients in private hospitals. The national treatment purchase fund expects to treat up to 1,900 patients this year.
The single most important limiting factor for admission to hospital is bed availability. In this context a comprehensive review of bed capacity needs has been conducted in both the acute and non-acute sectors. The review, which has informed the health strategy, has focused primarily on the need to increase bed capacity and to have a strategic framework in place in terms of the number of additional beds required in the short, medium and long-terms. This year I have made provision for the commissioning of an additional 709 acute beds in public hospitals at a cost of €65 million. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that 258 of these beds have been commissioned under this initiative to date. The latest advice to my Department from the Eastern Regional Health Authority, ERHA, and the health boards indicates that in excess of 600 beds will be in place by year end and that the remainder will be commissioned early in the new year.
