Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 October 2018
74. Deputy Marc MacSharry asked the Minister for Health the action which will be taken to address the long outpatient waiting times in Sligo University Hospital in which 1,136 persons are waiting more than 18 months for an appointment. [43620/18]
View answerWhat action will be taken to address the long outpatient waiting times in Sligo University Hospital where 1,136 persons are waiting more than 18 months for an appointment?
I thank Deputy MacSharry for raising this matter. As he is aware, in budget 2019, we have prioritised improving access and reducing waiting times for patients with funding to the NTPF increasing from €55 million in 2018 to €75 million in 2019. I am pleased to say this increase in funding will allow us to target 40,000 outpatient appointments.
The Deputy has raised with me before the importance of using the NTPF for inpatient day cases where we have seen progress. We are also now asking it to play a role for outpatients too. To date in 2018, the NTPF has approved almost 12,700 additional first-time outpatient appointments and this will increase to 40,000 appointments next year. I recently met with the CEOs of all hospital groups to discuss improving access for patients and requested that they work with the NTPF and HSE to develop new proposals to address the number of long waiters on outpatient lists in 2019.
Sligo University Hospital, through engagement with the NTPF, will be running an additional ear, nose and throat, ENT, clinic every week from November to help reduce those waiting for their first appointment. This is good news for people in the Deputy's county. Sligo University Hospital specifically, and Saolta Hospital Group, have demonstrated a clear commitment to reducing the number of outpatients waiting to be seen. Since 2017 additional outpatient clinics have been held for gynaecology, general medicine and neurology to increase the number of patients seen and reduce long waiting times. Sligo has also embraced several other approaches, including the use of virtual clinics in the orthopaedic department; a restructuring of the acute pain clinic to allow for referrals to be triaged and treated by a multidisciplinary specialist team; and the development of an ophthalmology service. The Sligo eye care model which people talk so much about is something that I would like to see rolled out as part of our Sláintecare plans and our HSE service plan in 2019. We will have funding for additional outpatient and hospital appointments in 2019. I will work with the Saolta group to consider more initiatives for Sligo. I am very pleased that from next month we will have an additional ENT clinic every week in Sligo funded through the NTPF.
It is good news that there will be more money available in 2019 but in terms of the here and now there are 1,136 people waiting. When the Minister took office in May 2016 there were 65 in the same category. That is a seventeenfold increase in that time. Nationally, the Minister is aware that the outpatient lists have hit another record high of 515,547 with almost 150,000 of those patients waiting over a year. While I am pleased that the NTPF is finally to be used for outpatients I have a concern being from the north west, the marginalised part of the country in all disciplines and all budgetary Votes, about what proportion of the 40,000 places will be reserved for the Saolta group and, in particular, Sligo University Hospital and Letterkenny. It is not just my county because as I am sure the Minister is well aware Sligo University Hospital services five counties or at least part thereof. There were 20 people waiting more than a year for an orthopaedic appointment in May 2016 but now there are 475. I am glad that the Minister mentioned another ENT clinic. The waiting list for that was 51 in May 2016 but now it is 764. I will let the Minister respond to that before I conclude.
When I read the outpatient waiting list figures for the Deputy's hospital – if I may call it that, although I accept it is very much a regional hospital that serves several counties – and consider the specialties, the ENT specialty is indeed accounting for the largest proportion of people waiting for an outpatient appointment in Sligo University Hospital. Therefore, it is appropriate that the first area we target with NTPF funding starting next month is additional ENT clinics. I particularly thank the hospital, one which as the Deputy knows is limited in physical space, although perhaps that is for another conversation, for arranging to run evening clinics to ensure this can be facilitated. I also want to thank it for informing me that it is going to review the space now used by the ENT which has longest waiting times. There is the potential to modify existing rooms with the fit-out of equipment to create three procedure rooms and to soundproof a third audiology room. The hospital would then be able to see an additional 384 patients annually. I very much take the Deputy's point in wanting to ensure that the Saolta group in that part of the country gets its fair share of resources. My message to the Saolta group, and I have delivered it in person, is to come forward with as many proposals as possible. I visited Sligo University Hospital where I delivered that message. Any proposals that can help drive down waiting lists will be favourably received by the Department of Health.
I would like to see the Minister positively discriminate against the north west of the country in terms of the 40,000 places that will be funded through the NTPF. It always worries me when the Minister puts the onus on the hospital to come up with a plan. We are driving the bus up here, at least we should be. People have been waiting for a long time not just for ENT but for the full range of procedures, although the biggest number is for ENT, and that initiative is appropriate. If the hospital is showing such a good initiative for ENT why not go the extra mile and fund additional clinics across the spectrum with the help of the NTPF?
As I outlined to Deputy MacSharry and his colleague, Deputy Curran, with the additional funding for the NTPF in 2019, we will be able to see a significant increase in the number of outpatient appointments. The Deputy's party has acknowledged the progress made in inpatient day cases where there has been a very significant reduction of 16% from the peak in the number of people waiting for a hospital operation or appointment. We now need to apply that same level of scrutiny to our outpatient lists. I am very pleased that we are in a position, through the NTPF, to fund the additional ENT clinic on a weekly basis from next month in Sligo. I accept there is more to be done and that it is the Deputy’s job to make the case for his region. I will have to approach this with fairness based on clinical need. We are driving the bus but there are many people employed within the health service to come up with ideas and put forward waiting list plans for consideration in respect of funding and I look forward to receiving them.
