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Hospital Waiting Lists

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 May 2017

Wednesday, 3 May 2017

Questions (263)

Bernard Durkan

Question:

263. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the number of persons currently on waiting lists for all orthopaedic and cardiac procedures; if the factors contributing to the waiting lists have been identified; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21085/17]

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Written answers

I acknowledge that waiting times are often unacceptably long and am conscious of the impact of this on people’s lives.

It is important to note that a combination of a growing and ageing population has led to an increase in demand for acute hospital services in recent years. Our hospitals are now carrying out four-times more procedures in patients aged 65 years and over, and twice as many in the under 65 age group since 2000. Last year alone there was a 4% increase in inpatient and day-case activity over 2015, and in 2016 almost 1.69 million patients received inpatient or daycase treatment in our hospitals, an increase of almost 40,000 on the previous year.

Reducing waiting times for the longest waiting patients is one of this Government's key priorities. Consequently, Budget 2017 allocated €20 million to the NTPF, rising to €55 million in 2018. In order to reduce the numbers of long-waiting patients, I asked the HSE to develop Waiting List Action Plans for 2017 in the areas of Inpatient/Daycase, Scoliosis and Outpatient Services. These plans have now been finalised and will be communicated shortly.

The NTPF publishes waiting list data by speciality, hospital and hospital group each month including data for orthopaedics and cardiology. This data can be viewed on its website at NTPF.ie.

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