Hospital Waiting Lists

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 February 2013

Thursday, 14 February 2013

Questions (34, 67, 110)

Micheál Martin

Question:

34. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Health the action he is taking to reduce outpatient waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7516/13]

Anthony Lawlor

Question:

67. Deputy Anthony Lawlor asked the Minister for Health the actions taken to reduce the waiting times for adults awaiting inpatient and day case surgery; the impact of these measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7543/13]

Tom Hayes

Question:

110. Deputy Tom Hayes asked the Minister for Health the actions taken to reduce the waiting times for adults awaiting inpatient and day case surgery; the impact of these measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7542/13]

Written answers

Minister for Health

I propose to take Questions Nos. 34, 67 and 110 together.

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 scheduled care waiting times. The initial focus for the Special Delivery Unit's Scheduled Care Team has been on waiting times for in-patient and daycase elective surgery.

The HSE Service Plan 2012 set a target that no adult should have to wait longer than nine months for in-patient or daycase surgery. By the end of December 2012, the number of adults having to wait more than 9 months for in-patient and day case surgery was down to 86 from 3,706 in December 2011, a 98% decrease.

This is a significant achievement which shows what can be done to tackle access to in-patient and daycase services. The progress made in 2012 does not mean all problems are solved, and 2013 will remain very challenging against a target waiting time for this year of eight months. However, the improvement reflects my commitment, and that of this Government, to ensuring patients can access the acute hospital services they need, when they need them.

Access to outpatient waiting times is also a key priority and a maximum waiting time target has now been set that no-one should be waiting longer than 12 months for a first-time outpatient appointment. The setting of this target has been made possible by the considerable work done by the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) working in conjunction with the SDU. For the first time, clear and comprehensive data on outpatient waiting times is available (www.ptr.ie). The collation and analysis of outpatient waiting time data in a standardised format reveals the distribution of long waiters across all hospitals. In the first instance, this allows resources to be targeted towards those patients who are waiting longest, to ensure that they are seen and assessed. In parallel with reducing the numbers of longest waiters, the SDU will this year work with the HSE National Clinical Care Programmes to reform the structure, organisation and delivery of outpatient services to ensure that the right patient is seen and assessed by the right health professional at the right time.

Question No. 35 answered with Question No. 20.