Louise O'Reilly
Question:822. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the national radiology waiting lists by hospital and scan type for persons with a suspected cancer. [3594/20]
View answerThursday, 5 March 2020
Questions (822, 823, 824, 825, 827)
Louise O'Reilly
Question:823. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the national radiology waiting lists by hospital and scan type for persons with a diagnosed cancer. [3595/20]
View answerLouise O'Reilly
Question:824. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the waiting time key performance indicators for a person with suspected cancer to receive a scan; if they are classified as urgent, semi-urgent or non-urgent; and the number of persons with suspected cancer not receiving a scan within the timeframe target. [3596/20]
View answerLouise O'Reilly
Question:825. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the waiting time key performance indicators for persons to receive a scan if they have been diagnosed with cancer; and the number of persons with diagnosed cancer not receiving a scan within the timeframe target. [3597/20]
View answerLouise O'Reilly
Question:827. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the surgical waiting times for a person that chooses to undergo risk reduction surgery as a consequence of a positive test for a gene that is linked to cancer; and if the waiting times will be broken down by surgery type and hospital, for example, waiting times for bilateral mastectomy, single mastectomy, oophorectomy and so on. [3599/20]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 822 to 825, inclusive, and 827 together.
The HSE’s National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) has advised that they do not currently collect data on risk reduction surgery nor do they capture the information requested on diagnostics on an all cancer basis.
A pilot project was commenced in 2016 by the HSE Acute Hospitals Division to progress the collection of national radiology waiting list data. The project has been supported by the Radiology Clinical Care Programme and has involved key stakeholders across the system including the National NIMIS Team, Hospital Groups, and the support of the National Treatment Purchase Fund for data collection and data management expertise.
In addition, the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) advise that they do not currently store patient demographic data (including names, addresses or dates of birth) for patients on the Diagnostics waiting list and hence do not have the data to provide an answer to these queries. The Diagnostics waiting list data is aggregated to provide a National Level overview of the number of patients waiting for modalities of CT, MRI and Ultrasound and, as such, the HSE can only provide figures and wait time for specific procedures and/or specialties and not for medical diagnosis such as cancer.
Between 2009-2011 Rapid Access Clinics (RACs) were established, offering direct and rapid access to assessment and diagnosis for patients with symptomatic breast disease, and lung and prostate cancer symptoms. The performance of these RACs is measured against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as defined in the HSE National Service Plan. These KPIs set target timeframes in which patients, in each of the RACs, should be seen. These KPIs, and the performance for 2019 (Jan-Sept) are as follows:
|
Key Performance Indicator |
% |
Jan - Sept 2019 |
Number of patients referred |
Number of patients seen within KPI |
|
Symptomatic Breast Disease Clinics: % of attendances whose referrals were triaged as urgent by the cancer centre and adhered to the national standard of 2 weeks for urgent referrals. |
95% |
69.7% |
15,753 |
10,985 |
|
Lung Rapid Access Clinics: % of patients attending lung rapid access clinics who attended or were offered an appointment within 10 working days of receipt of referral in designated cancer centres. |
95% |
86.4% |
2,716 |
2,346 |
|
Prostate Rapid Access Clinics: % of patients attending prostate rapid clinics who attended or were offered an appointment within 20 working days of receipt of referral in the cancer centres |
90% |
68.1% |
2,965 |
2,020 |
The Department of Health continues to monitor the performance of RACs through monthly meetings with the HSE's National Cancer Control Programme.