Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 May 2017
38. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Health the action which will be taken to address the fact that more than 6,000 outpatient appointments are outstanding for more than 18 months in Cork hospitals as of March 2017. [20766/17]
View answerI acknowledge that waiting times are often unacceptably long and am conscious of the impact of this on people’s lives.
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 plan to reduce outpatient waiting lists will include two work-streams to address both short-term achievement and long-term sustainable goals. The short-term actions will mainly focus on enhanced chronological scheduling, process improvements, as well as administrative and clinical validation. Longer-term measures will also be implemented, such as referral pathways and integrated referral management systems.
