Sorca Clarke
Question:882. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health the number of women waiting for gynaecology appointments by hospital in tabular form. [9867/21]
View answerWednesday, 24 February 2021
Questions (882)
Written answers
It is recognised that waiting times for scheduled appointments and procedures have been impacted as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result of the deferral of elective scheduled care activity in March, April and May of 2020, and since 2nd January 2021. At present the HSE recommends that only critical time dependent elective procedures are undertaken due to the on-going and significant increased demand for bed capacity related to Covid-19. At all times, patient safety remains at the forefront of the HSE decision to defer elective scheduled care activity.
The HSE continues to identify ways to improve access to care for example through modified pathways to care in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of private hospitals, community facilities and atypical outpatient settings
The data requested by the Deputy has been provided to my Department by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) and is outlined in the attached document. The NTPF have further advised my Department that the Dublin Maternity Hospitals (Holles Street, the Coombe, and the Rotunda) do not submit full waiting list data to the NTPF. The Coombe and the Rotunda only submit Outpatient data, while Holles Street does not currently submit any data as yet. All of these sites have engaged, in detail, with the NTPF to progress steps to allow data to be submitted to the NTPF. This includes the resolution of data protection and technical issues. The Department continues to closely monitor the progress of this project through established Governance structures
The table attached provides details of the number of patients in both Inpatient (IPDC) and Outpatient (OPD) categories, on waiting lists for Gynaecology appointments by Hospital and by time-bands at the end of January 2021. This information is updated each month on the National Treatment Purchase Fund website.