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Hospital Waiting Lists Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 January 2019

Tuesday, 15 January 2019

Questions (594)

Michael Healy-Rae

Question:

594. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health the number of persons on waiting list for cataracts (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54275/18]

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Written answers

Improving access to hospital treatment is a key priority for Government.

It is acknowledged that cataract surgery is among the most common surgical procedures carried out in the Ophthalmology specialty. It was in this knowledge that when proposals for the joint HSE/National Treatment Purchase Fund Inpatient and Day Case Action Plan were under development last year, I sought a particular focus on reducing waiting times for a number of high volume specialties including cataracts. The Action Plan, allocated a quarter (5,000 out of 20,000) of the planned NTPF procedures to cataract treatments.

Waiting list figures for December 2018, published last week by the NTPF show that considerable improvements have been made to the number of patients waiting for an Inpatient or Day case procedure which have fallen to 70,204 from the peak of 86,100 in July 2017. This represents a reduction of over 18% in the overall number of patients waiting for a procedure. Over the same period, the waiting lists for Cataracts has reduced from over 10,000 to 6,440 representing a reduction of 36%.

Furthermore, the number of patients waiting over 9 months has almost halved since July 2017 from 28,100 to 14,900. The impact is particularly noteworthy when one considers the improvements to the Waiting Lists for those particular specialties which were the focus of the Inpatient/Daycase Action Plan in 2018 including the numbers waiting over 9 months for a Cataract procedure which have fallen by 87% since July 2017.

The Action Plan also recommended that the HSE and NTPF identify sustainable initiatives to improve waiting times. In this context, a dedicated centre for cataract surgery in Nenagh opened last July, and at full capacity will be capable of delivering up to 2,000 procedures annually. The centre is ideally located to enable the UL hospital group, in collaboration with the HSE and NTPF, to maximise the use of the Centre through collaboration with other hospital groups so that patients from surrounding regions can be referred to the Centre for their treatment.

My Department is working closely with the NTPF and the HSE to finalise a Scheduled Care Access Plan for inpatients/daycase and outpatients for 2019. In this regard, the NTPF and HSE will continue to work closely with Hospital Groups, inviting proposals to improve access for patients waiting for hospital procedures.

The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following documents.

-

Sum of Amount

Column Labels

Row Labels

0-3 Mths

3-6 Mths

6-9 Mths

9-12 Mths

12-15 Mths

Grand Total

South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital

41

18

19

2

1

81

Grand Total

41

18

19

2

1

81

Average Wait Time (days) - Kerry Resident 123

Average Wait Time (days) - General 128

-

Sum of Amount

Column Labels

Row Labels

0-3 Months

3-6 Months

6-9 Months

9-12 Months

12-15 Months

15-18 Months

18-24 Mths

24+ Mths

Grand Total

835

500

352

168

147

119

199

117

2437

835

500

352

168

147

119

199

117

2437

Average Wait Time (days) - Kerry Resident 241

Average Wait Time (days) - General 252

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