Health Services Provision

Wednesday, 27 January 2021

Questions (745)

Róisín Shortall

Question:

745. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health the number of persons on a waiting list to see an allergist or get an allergy test by community healthcare organisation, CHO, and age category; and the breakdown by the length of time they have been waiting in tabular form. [3930/21]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

It is recognised that waiting times for scheduled appointments and procedures have been impacted in the last year as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the HSE endeavoured to optimise access to care, including allergy testing, through alternative work practices such the use of alternative settings including private hospitals, community facilities, and alternative outpatient settings.

One such initiative took place at City West Convention Centre over a period of six weeks starting early September 2020. Children's Health Ireland, in conjunction with the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), arranged day case procedures for 474 long waiting patients on the CHI Clinical Immunology Waiting List to undergo Food Challenges at City West.

The HSE is currently recommending that only critical time dependent elective procedures are undertaken at this time due to the on-going and significant increased demand for bed capacity related to Covid-19.

This decision was made arising from the rapid increase in Covid-19 admissions and to ensure patient safety and that all appropriate resources were made available for Covid-19 related activity and time-critical essential work.

Patient safety remains at the centre of all hospital activity and elective care scheduling. To ensure services are provided in a safe, clinically-aligned and prioritised way, hospitals are following HSE clinical guidelines and protocols.

The NTPF have advised my Department that as of the end December 2020 there were 2,911 patients on outpatient clinical immunology waiting lists in Ireland and 311 patients on inpatient clinical immunology waiting lists. This data, broken down by age category and hospital, is provided in the attached tables.

Outpatient Clinical Immunology Waiting List as of 23/12/2020 by Age Profile, by time-band

Sum of Amount	Column Labels
Row Labels	0-3 Months	3-6 Months	6-9 Months	9-12 Months	12-15 Months	15-18 Months	18 Months +	Small Volume Timebands	Grand Total
Beaumont Hospital	57								57
18-36 Years	14								14
36-54 Years	27								27
54-72 Years	16								16
Galway University Hospitals	99	51	100	70	67	75	52		514
0-18 Years	8	5	13	10	10	5			51
18-36 Years	36	19	31	27	25	34	19		191
36-54 Years	34	18	33	23	15	26	25		174
54-72 Years	16	9	23	10	17	10	8		93
72+ Years	5								5
								48	48
Small Volume Hospitals								13	13
0-18 Years								1	1
18-36 Years								27	27
72+ Years								7	7
Small Volume Age Group
St. James's Hospital	204	136	50	56	63	48	99		656
0-18 Years	13	11							24
18-36 Years	65	56	14	23	25	17	37		237
36-54 Years	65	55	23	21	26	21	35		246
54-72 Years	48	14	13	12	12	10	21		130
72+ Years	13						6		19
Children's Health Ireland	145	77	42	110	116	120	1026		1636
0-18 Years	145	77	42		116	120	1008		1618
18-36 Years							18		18
Grand Total	505	264	192	236	246	243	1177	48	2911

IPDC Immunology Waiting List as of 23/12/2020 by Age Profile, by time- band

Sum of Amount	Column Labels
Row Labels	0-3 Months	3-6months	6-9 Months	9-12 Months	12-15 Months	15-18 Months	18+ Months	Small Volume Timebands	Grand Total
Beaumont Hospital	63	22							85
18-36 Years	28	15							43
36-54 Years	22	7							29
54 + Years	13								13
Small Volume Hospitals								17	17
0-18 Years								5	5
18-36 Years								1	1
36-54 Years								2	2
54+ Years								9	9
St. James's Hospital							58		58
18-36 Years							14		14
36-54 Years							30		30
54+ Years							14
Children's Health Ireland	46	16	15	26	18		15		14
0-18 Years	46	16	15	26	18	15	15		151
						15	15		151
Grand Total	109	38	15	26	18	15	73	17	311