Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 7 September 2018
639. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Health the number of persons who have been contacted in relation to being on a HSE waiting list; and the number who have been removed from the waiting list for not returning correspondence. [35682/18]
View answerGood practice around the management of hospital waiting lists recommends periodic validation of waiting lists.
Validation is the process whereby hospital administration contacts patients on waiting lists at pre-planned intervals during the year to ensure that patients are ready, willing, suitable and available to attend a hospital appointment or wish to be removed.
Importantly, the validation process allows for situations where, if requested by the GP/referring clinician, patients can be reinstated back to their original place on the Waiting List.
In July of this year, I approved the establishment of a Central Waiting List Validation function in the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF). The establishment of the new centralised validation office will put in place protocols and practices which will ensure a standardisation of approach to the validation of all waiting lists across all hospitals.
The new office is expected to commence validation of patient files later this month.
In terms of the number of persons who have been contacted by the HSE in terms of validation activity, and the numbers removed waiting lists, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.
