Hospital Waiting Lists Data

Tuesday, 11 June 2019

Questions (493)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

493. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the most recent outpatient and inpatient waiting list figures for Navan hospital; the equivalent set of figures from the previous 12 months; the length of time these patients have been waiting on a three, six, 12 and 24 month basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23528/19]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

I am conscious that waiting times are often unacceptably long and of the burden that this places on patients and their families. In this regard, the Government is committed to improving waiting times for hospital appointments and procedures.

The joint Department of Health/HSE/National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) Scheduled Care Access Plan 2019 was published in March and sets out measures to improve care for patients waiting for scheduled care in 2019 by reducing waiting times for inpatient/day case treatment and outpatient appointments. The plan places a strong focus on ten high-volume Inpatient/Day Case procedures. When combined with HSE activity, it is projected that the NTPF will be in a position to offer treatment to all clinically suitable patients waiting more than 6 months for one of these high-volume procedures.

A key element of the Plan is the stabilisation of the Outpatient Waiting List. Under the Plan the HSE, in line with the National Service Plan, will aim to deliver 3.3 million outpatient appointments, of which approximately 1 million will be first appointments. For its part the NTPF will aim to deliver 40,000 first Outpatient appointments.

The plan includes a target to reduce the number of patients waiting for and Inpatient/Day Case procedure from just over 70,000 in December 2018 to 60,000 by year end and to reduce the number of patients waiting for a first Outpatient appointment from over 516,000 at the end of 2018 to under 509,000 by the end of 2019. The latter target takes into account the fact that more than 800,000 new patients will be added to the Outpatient waiting list in 2019, a figure that is based on trends for the previous two years.

The NTPF advise that over recent months they have placed a particular focus on engaging with hospital groups and individual hospitals to identify outpatient waiting list proposals. While the NTPF have already approved over 38,000 outpatient appointments, they advise that the impact of these initiatives may not be seen until the end of the year. Approximately 75% of outpatient appointments approved to date relate to 4 high-volume specialities, specifically Ophthalmology, ENT, Orthopaedics, and Dermatology.

In addition, my Department is working with the HSE and NTPF, under the Access Plan, with the objective of developing medium-long term improvement initiatives for patient access to hospital procedures. This will include moving care to more appropriate settings and providing care at the lowest level of complexity such as providing ophthalmology in the community; maximising the use of Advanced Nurse Practitioner led clinics; and physiotherapists to manage orthopaedic clinics.

Navan Hospital IPDC waiting list has increased by 12% (+71) when compared to the same period last year but has decreased by 19% (-162) when compared to August 2018. Navan Hospital Outpatient waiting list has increased by 20% (+1,196) when compared to the same period last year.

*Due to the small volume of patients waiting in timebands over 12 months on the IPDC waiting list, and over 24 months on the Outpatient waiting list, to preserve patient confidentiality, these numbers have been included within the broader timebands of 12+ months and 24+ months respectively.

Navan Hospital IPDC April 2018-April 2019

	0-3 Mths	3-6 Mths	6-9 Mths	9-12 Mths	12+ Mths	Grand Total
Apr-19	379	156	86	53	6	680
Mar-19	346	201	100	56	8	711
Feb-19	371	204	115	38	12	740
Jan-19	359	222	137	33	7	758
Dec-18	372	205	121	20	3	721
Nov-18	384	225	99	26	8	742
Oct-18	386	276	95	35	8	800
Sep-18	413	287	73	46	11	830
Aug-18	439	261	83	52	7	842
Jul-18	459	203	89	35	6	792
Jun-18	479	129	66	35	8	717
May-18	432	145	55	59	8	699
Apr-18	339	154	85	23	8	609

Navan Hospital Outpatient April 2018-April 2019

	0-3Months	3-6Months	6-9Months	9-12Months	12-15Months	15-18Months	18-21Months	21-24Months	24+Months	Grand Total
Apr-19	1727	1030	1155	1006	753	509	435	226	195	7036
Mar-19	1208	1002	1082	707	566	440	237	171	0	5413
Feb-19	1580	1300	987	1063	655	564	423	230	159	6961
Jan-19	1449	1259	1079	959	592	588	388	201	127	6642
Dec-18	1657	1083	1135	773	630	555	359	186	92	6470
Nov-18	1723	1071	1096	737	628	569	319	174	90	6407
Oct-18	1614	1140	1032	697	661	558	260	171	81	6214
Sep-18	1541	1254	923	696	665	532	241	200	26	6078
Aug-18	1542	1235	888	742	683	511	206	201	16	6024
Jul-18	1632	1170	854	748	677	437	217	165	16	5916
Jun-18	1645	1026	991	776	702	329	261	82	12	5824
May-18	1612	1063	997	775	716	323	262	74	11	5833
Apr-18	1621	1054	1038	834	632	315	247	88	11	5840