Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 February 2019
149. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Health the number of persons waiting for an appointment with the pain management clinic in University Hospital Galway; the average waiting time in this regard; the steps he will take to reduce these waiting times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9984/19]
View answerImproving waiting times for hospital procedures is a key commitment in the Programme for Government.
I hope to publish the joint Department of Health, HSE and NTPF Scheduled Care Access Plan 2019 shortly. This will ensure an appropriate balance between high volume activities and offering treatment to complex long waiting patients.
This Plan for inpatients/day case (IPDC) and outpatients will set out the activity targets for the HSE in line with the National Service Plan, as well as those for the NTPF taking account of their increased funding totalling €75 million in 2019, to provide treatment for patients. I would strongly encourage all hospitals, including Galway University Hospital, to collaborate with the NTPF to identify waiting list initiatives.
The NTPF has advised that pain management clinics are listed under a variety of procedure codes throughout the Irish hospital system. In this context, the outpatient appointments for pain clinics at Galway University Hospital (GUH) are listed under ‘anaesthetics’ rather than ‘pain clinic’.
Waiting list figures show there are 1,266 patients on the Outpatient Waiting List for Anaesthetics, however it is important to note that this data does not differentiate pain clinic patients from other patients on that waiting list.
The number of patients on the IPDC Pain Relief waiting list in Galway University Hospital, and average waiting time is outlined below.
Total waiters and average wait time for Pain Relief in GUH - IPDC
|
Specialty |
Total |
Average wait time (Days) |
|
Pain Relief |
898 |
246 |
