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Hospital Waiting Lists

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2020

Tuesday, 23 June 2020

Questions (559)

Seán Crowe

Question:

559. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Health if he will he provide details of the specific measures or changes he has introduced in the past 12 months to reduce the waiting lists for the removal of cataracts; the number of people on the current waiting list; the estimated waiting time for an individual to get an assessment; and the estimated waiting time for an individual to get an operation. [12592/20]

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Written answers

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic the HSE had to take measures to defer all non-urgent elective scheduled care activity, including outpatient clinics. This was to ensure patient safety and that all appropriate resources were made available for Covid-19 related activity and time-critical essential work. This decision was in line with the advice issued by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), the World Health Organisation, and the National Action Plan published on 16 March. The trajectory of the disease means there is now an opportunity for increasing the provision of non-covid care including more routine care.

NPHET has approved a number of recommendations relating to protecting and maximising the delivery of essential time-critical non-Covid-19 care alongside Covid-19 care. On 5 May, NPHET agreed that its recommendation of 27 March, in regard to the pausing of all non-essential health services should be replaced, in relation to acute care, with a recommendation that delivery of acute care be determined by appropriate clinical and operational decision making. Application of the essential risk mitigating steps set out in the guidance developed under the auspices of the NPHET Expert Advisory group will have operational implications, which will impact on throughput.

Where possible, hospitals are working to find innovative ways to enable service provision, which include virtual clinics for some outpatient department appointments. The HSE website provides details on services currently available and operational in each hospital on its website. This information is reviewed frequently and provides up-to-date announcements on services available at each site (https://www2.hse.ie/services/hospital-service-disruptions/hospital-service-disruptions-covid19.html).

Reducing waiting time for patients for hospital operations and procedures is a key priority for Government. In recent years, my Department has worked with the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) and made considerable improvements to access for patients waiting for high volume procedures and life limiting procedures including cataracts. At the end of July 2017, the number of people waiting for a cataract procedure was 10,024. As of the end of May 2020, there were 5,985 patients waiting for a cataract procedure. Of these, 862 are waiting over 9 months which represents a reduction of 80% when compared to July 2017.

A key development in improving access to Ophthalmology services was the opening of a stand-alone high-volume consultant-led cataract theatre by the University of Limerick Hospital Group in Nenagh Hospital in 2018, with the intention that it would facilitate patients from surrounding geographical areas to avail of their treatment there.

My Department, the HSE and the NTPF are currently working together to estimate the impact of Covid 19 on Scheduled Care waiting lists, in order to be prepared to address any backlog or pent up demand.

The NTPF have advised my Department that they are unable to provide cataract waiting times for outpatient appointments as only specialty level data is collected for outpatient appointments. The NTPF have instead provided the average wait time for an Ophthalmology outpatient appointment in the attached document. The national average waiting time for an inpatient cataract procedure is also provided.

National Average Wait Time for an Outpatient Ophthalmology Appointment as at 28/05/2020

Date

Specialty

Average wait time (days)

28/05/2020

Ophthalmology

439

National Average Wait Time for an Inpatient Cataract Procedure as at 28/05/2020

Date

Specialty

Average wait time (days)

28/05/2020

Cataracts

173

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