Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 June 2014
509. Deputy Michelle Mulherin asked the Minister for Health if a 70% to 90% blockage of an artery of a patient is deemed to be an urgent case to be afforded priority in having a surgical procedure to have a stent inserted; if so, the length of time a patient may expect to wait; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24383/14]
View answerThe National Waiting List Management Policy, A standardised approach to managing scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures, January 2014, has been developed to ensure that all administrative, managerial and clinical staff follow an agreed national minimum standard for the management and administration of waiting lists for scheduled care. This policy, which has been adopted by the Health Service Executive, sets out the processes that hospitals are to implement to manage waiting lists.
Should a patient's consultant consider that the patient's condition warrants earlier intervention, there are protocols within the policy to facilitate instances of clinical urgency. As this is a matter of clinical practice, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy.
