Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 June 2018
45. Deputy Marc MacSharry asked the Minister for Health the action that will be taken to reduce outpatient waiting times for neurology consultations in Sligo University Hospital in which 263 appointments are outstanding for more than 18 months. [28207/18]
View answerImproving waiting times for hospital procedures and outpatient appointments is a key commitment in the Programme for Government. While the Inpatient and Day Case (IPDC) Action Plan was published in April to address waiting times for IPDC procedures, the Outpatient waiting list remains a significant challenge to be addressed in 2018.
There are currently 650 patients on the neurology outpatient waiting list in Sligo, representing a decrease of 7% on figures for July 2017.
In order to address the issue of growing outpatient waiting list numbers, my Department, the HSE and the NTPF are in the process of finalising an Outpatient Action Plan for 2018. This plan will support the HSE’s compliance with their National Service Plan targets, reduce the growth in the number of patients waiting for outpatient services, improve the accuracy of the waiting list, and trial a number of NTPF funded interventions, including weekend and out of hours clinics.
It is worth noting that in 2017 almost half a million (477,000) outpatients did not attend their appointment. Therefore, the validation of waiting lists is an important part of the Outpatient Action Plan and of the successful management of waiting lists and clinics. This month I approved the establishment of a Central Validation Office in the National Treatment Purchase Fund in order to centralise the validation of all waiting lists across the HSE. The NTPF envisages being in a position to commence validation of patient files from September of this year.
In relation to the specific measure being taken by Sligo University Hospital, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.
