Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 July 2004
219 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children if there are on-line sources for information about waiting lists of patients in respect of different hospitals; and if he has plans to make more regular information available to the public and to referring doctors by speciality and by consultant so more informed decisions will be made about the selection of consultant and hospital. [20916/04]
View answerInformation on waiting lists has previously been made available on my Department's website. Responsibility for the collection and collation of data on waiting lists and waiting times now rests with the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. The NTPF is working closely with health boards and individual hospitals to obtain information on patients and the specific surgical procedure required in each case. Currently, the information collected by the NTPF is collected by hospital and specialty rather than by individual consultant. The issue of what information should be publicly available will be kept under review in the light of health strategy commitments.
