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Hospital Waiting Lists

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 February 2013

Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Questions (799)

Barry Cowen

Question:

799. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Offaly may expect an outpatient appointment. [5328/13]

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Written answers

The issue of Out-Patient waiting lists was essentially an untended problem. The scale of the problem was unmeasured and consequently no special action was taken to deal with it. This Government intends to change that. The Special Delivery Unit is now dealing with the issue of Out-Patient waiting lists on my instruction, with the assistance of the NTPF.

Work has commenced on the systematic and automatic collection of waiting time data at an individual patient level, in a standardised format, from all hospitals providing an Out-Patient service. This will be the first time that such detailed data will be available at a national level from all hospitals. The collection and analysis of Out-Patient waiting time data will allow the SDU and the NTPF to address issues at regional / hospital/speciality and consultant levels. The Special Delivery Unit and NTPF recently published the first set of validated out-patient waiting time data on the website www.ptr.ie. Published data is broken down by region and by hospital.

The target maximum waiting time for a first Out-Patient appointment in 2013 is that no patient should be waiting more than 12 months by the end of November. Hospitals will be held responsible and accountable for ensuring that patients are seen in Out-Patients within this maximum waiting time. The Special Delivery Unit and the NTPF will assist hospitals in targeting their resources towards those patients who are waiting longest and ensure that they are seen, assessed and appropriately treated.

In parallel with reducing the numbers of those waiting longest, the Special Delivery Unit will also commence work with the HSE Clinical Programmes to reform the structure, organisation and delivery of Out-Patient services to ensure that the right patient is seen by the right health professional at the right time.

The goal of the measures outlined above is to improve access by implementing an Out Patient Service Performance Improvement Programme that will underpin a radical transformation of how Out-Patient services are delivered in Ireland.

I have arranged for the question to be forwarded to the Health Service Executive, who will respond directly to the Deputy in relation to the information requested on Out-Patient waiting times in University Hospital, Galway and the particular case referred to the Deputy's question.

Questions Nos. 800 to 802, inclusive, answered with Question No. 780.

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