Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 February 2022
905. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the most readily available means whereby the implementation of Sláintecare can be ensured in order to overhaul the long waiting lists in the disciplines most affected in the health services to provide the ready availability of a comprehensive health service to the general public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8416/22]
View answerThe 2022 waiting list action plan, which I will be bringing to Government shortly, builds on the successes of the 2021 short-term Waiting List Action Plan that ran from September to December last year. The actions under the 2021 plan delivered immediate extra activity that resulted in a 5.4% reduction in overall waiting lists. That’s over 40,000 additional men, women and children no longer on waiting lists.
The 2017 all-party Oireachtas Sláintecare Report recognises the need to reduce waiting times for scheduled care services, especially for those with urgent and complex care needs. It sets out the following recommended maximum waiting time targets to be achieved by 2026: no patient should wait longer than 10 weeks for outpatients / assessments; 12 weeks for inpatients / day cases; and 10 days for diagnostics.
The 2022 Waiting List Action Plan outlines specific actions which are being taken forward in 2022 to further stabilise and deliver immediate reductions in acute scheduled care waiting lists volumes in tandem with a series of longer-term reform measures to fundamentally resolve underlying and ongoing barriers to the timely delivery of care - reducing maximum wait times, as the first step towards achieving the Sláintecare targets.
This plan is therefore the first year of a multi-annual reform plan to bring meaningful changes in achieving sustained reductions in waiting list numbers and waiting times.
This reform work includes: revised waiting list management protocols; improved data collection and information; and further work towards improving patient pathways of care, with some 37 priority scheduled care pathways across 16 specialties on track for implementation in 2022. These will ensure the availability of more timely access to care for people in settings closer to their communities and homes, in line with Sláintecare.
The success of longer-term reform to waiting lists will be dependent on the effective and timely delivery of other reform initiatives in progress but under seperate governance and project management structures within the Sláintecare Implementation Programme. The Waiting List Task Force will ensure that the 2022 Waiting List Action Plan and subsequent multi-annual plans will be aligned with these other interdependent initiatives, which include: new electives-only hospitals; reform of eligibility policy; Enhanced Community Care; implementation of the Regional Health Areas (RHAs); the Sláintecare consultant contract; implementation of the capacity review; strategic workforce planning; eHealth initiatives.
