Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 July 2019
105. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Health the measures in place to reduce waiting times for orthopaedic assessments and procedures for patients in counties Cavan and Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27812/19]
View answerI 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 National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) has provided my Department with data on the number of patients resident in Cavan and Monaghan who were present on an Inpatient/Daycase and Outpatient Orthopaedics waiting list, broken down by hospital.
The data shows that there are 76 patients from Cavan/Monaghan on the IPDC Orthopaedics waiting list, which represents 0.8% of the National orthopaedics waiting list. 43% of the patients from Cavan & Monaghan are listed on the Cappagh Hospital IPDC orthopaedics Waiting list. The Cappagh Hospital IPDC Orthopaedic waiting list has decreased by 5% when compared to the same period last year and 96% of patients are waiting 9 months or less.
The NTPF data also shows that there are 2,122 patients from Cavan/Monaghan on the Outpatient Orthopaedic waiting list, which represents 3% of the National orthopaedics waiting list. 73% of the patients from Cavan/Monaghan are on the Cavan General Hospital Outpatient Orthopaedics waiting list, and of these 61% of patients are waiting 12 months or less.
More broadly, Budget 2019 announced that the Government has further increased investment in tackling waiting lists, with funding to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) increasing from €55 million in 2018 to €75 million in 2019. 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, including hip/knee replacements. 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 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.
