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Hospital Waiting Lists

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 February 2013

Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Questions (809)

Brendan Griffin

Question:

809. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Health his plans to address the waiting times for hospital appointments and procedures for public patients compared with the priority service being provided to private patients. [5342/13]

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Written answers

The National Waiting List Management Policy promotes a standardised approach to managing scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures. The policy advises hospitals that the process for scheduling patients for admission applies to both public and private patients. i.e. once clinical urgency has been taken into account patients should be scheduled in chronological order.

I have no role to play in the day to day running of private hospitals. In July 2011, I announced the establishment of the Special Delivery Unit as a key part of my plans to radically reform the health system in Ireland. The Unit’s purpose is to improve access to the emergency and elective care system. Since it was established last year, it has been working to unblock public access to acute services by improving patient journeys through the system and by streamlining public hospital waiting lists, I am pleased to be able to say that very significant progress has been made by the SDU in relation to both emergency departments and waiting lists.

Scheduled care – in-patient and daycase

- The initial focus for the SDU's Scheduled Care Team has been on waiting times for in-patient and daycase elective surgery

- By the end of December 2012, the number of adults having to wait more than 9 months for inpatient and day case surgery was down to 86 from 3,706 in December 2011, a 98% decrease

- The number of children waiting over 20 weeks for inpatient or daycase surgery was down to 89 from 1,759 in December 2011, a 95% decrease

- The number of patients waiting over 13 weeks for a routine endoscopy procedure went down from 4,590 in December 2011 to 36 at the end of December 2012, a 99% decrease.

Outpatient services

- Improving access to outpatient services is also a priority for the Government and for the SDU Scheduled Care Team

- Building on work already undertaken by the HSE, the NTPF has now taken over the reporting of outpatient waiting time data. For the first time, clear and comprehensive data are available on www.ptr.ie

- The data now being collected will allow the SDU and NTPF to target their resources towards those patients who are waiting longest and ensure that they are seen and assessed. A maximum waiting time target has now been set of 12 months for a first time outpatient appointment by 30 November 2013.

In the coming months, as winter pressures in Emergency Departments ease, the SDU will work towards re-balancing scheduled care to maintain the improvements seen in 2012 and to achieve the new 2013 target that no adult should be waiting > 8 months for in patient and day case surgery.

These significant improvements in access and experience are being achieved despite the economic and budgetary pressures which must be dealt with and managed. They reflect the my commitment, and that of this Government, to ensuring patients can access the acute hospital services they need, when they need them.

Question No. 810 answered with Question No. 772.
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