Hospital Waiting Lists

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 October 2021

Wednesday, 13 October 2021

Questions (200)

Réada Cronin

Question:

200. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Health the number of persons on waiting lists for treatment at Naas General Hospital in each of the past five years; the number waiting for lengths greater than three and six months and one and two years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49968/21]

Written answers

Minister for Health

It is recognised that waiting times for scheduled appointments and procedures have been impacted in the last nineteen months as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently as a result of the ransomware attack. While significant progress was made in reducing waiting times from June 2020 onwards, the surge in Covid-19 cases in the first quarter of 2021 and the associated curtailment of acute hospital services, coupled with the ransomware attack of May 2021, has impacted waiting times.

My Department, the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) are focusing on improving access to elective care in order to reduce waiting times for patients. These plans include increased use of private hospitals, funding weekend and evening work in public hospitals, funding “see and treat” services where minor procedures are provided at the same time as outpatient consultations, providing virtual clinics and increasing capacity in the public hospital system.

An additional €240 million has been provided in Budget 2021 for an access to care fund, €210m of which was allocated to the HSE and a further €30m to the NTPF. This is being used to fund additional capacity to address the shortfall arising as a result of infection control measures taken in the context of COVID-19, as well as addressing backlogs in waiting lists.

This Government is committed to a co-ordinated programme of reform, with a two-pronged approach:

- a short-term waiting list action plan to address loss of activity, which I published last week;

- tackling longer term goals under the multi-annual waiting list plan which is currently being prepared by the Department of Health, the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) with the objective of bringing waiting lists and waiting times in line with Sláintecare commitments (12 weeks IPDC/10 weeks OPD/10 days diagnostics).

The information requested by the Deputy regarding the number of persons on waiting lists for treatment at Naas General Hospital in each of the past five years; the number waiting for lengths greater than three and six months and one and two years is provided in the attached document.

Naas General Hospital, Outpatient EndOfYear waits from 2016 to August 2021

Year	0-3 Mths	3-6 Mths	6-12 Mths	12-24 Mths	24+ Mths	Grand Total
30/12/2016	2,233	1,013	1,353	1,101	17	5,717
29/12/2017	2,377	1,341	1,696	1,615	588	7,617
20/12/2018	2,565	1,165	1,610	1,967	828	8,135
19/12/2019	2,704	1,472	1,609	1,445	856	8,086
23/12/2020	2,434	1,438	1,825	2,962	1,221	9,880
26/08/2021	2,896	1,649	1,988	2,904	1,855	11,292

Naas General Hospital, In-Patient EndOfYear waits from 2016 to August 2021

Row Labels	0-3 Mths	3-6 Mths	6-12 Mths	12-24 Mths	24+ Mths	SmallVolTimeBand	Grand Total
GI Scope
30/12/2016	358	234	600				1,192
29/12/2017	288	269	502	109			1,168
20/12/2018	412	274	253	161	81		1,181
19/12/2019	378	282	283	37			980
23/12/2020	360	264	414	432	51		1,521
26/08/2021	322	285	176	108	43		934
IPDC
30/12/2016	35	6	8				49
29/12/2017	52	15	18	6			91
20/12/2018	138	29	18	6			191
19/12/2019	199	30	9	5			243
23/12/2020	143	84	89	44			360
26/08/2021	67	26	65		76		234
SmallVolWLType
SmallVolDate						5	5

*Due to the small volume of patients waiting in certain specialties, to preserve patient confidentiality, when the number of patients is <5, these have been included within broader timebands or aggregated into a 'Small Volume Specialties' cohort.