Hospital Waiting Lists

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 March 2022

Tuesday, 8 March 2022

Questions (726, 727)

Sorca Clarke

Question:

726. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health the number of women awaiting gynaecology appointments by hospital, in tabular form. [13123/22]

Sorca Clarke

Question:

727. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health the average waiting time for a gynaecology appointment by hospital in 2021 and to date in 2022. [13124/22]

Written answers

Minister for Health

I propose to take Questions Nos. 726 and 727 together.

It is recognised that waiting times for scheduled appointments and procedures have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. While significant work continues to positively impact on waiting times and improve pathways to elective care, acute hospitals have been impacted by operational challenges arising from surges in cases related to the Delta and Omicron variants.

The HSE has confirmed to the Department that 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 Department of Health continues to work with the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to identify ways to improve access to care, including through increased use of private hospitals, funding weekend and evening work in public hospitals, funding “see and treat” services, providing virtual clinics, and increasing capacity in the public hospital system.

The 2022 Waiting List Action Plan, which was launched on the 26th of February, allocates €350 million to the HSE and NTPF to reduce waiting lists. Under this plan the Department, HSE, and NTPF will deliver urgent additional capacity for the treatment of patients, as well as investing in longer term reforms to bring sustained reductions in waiting lists.

The plan builds on the successes of the short-term 2021 plan that ran from September to December last year. The 2021 plan was developed by the Department of Health, the HSE and the NTPF and was driven and overseen by a senior governance group co-chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Health and the CEO of the HSE and met fortnightly.

This rigorous level of governance and scrutiny of waiting lists has continued into this year with the oversight group evolving into the Waiting List Task Force. The Task Force will meet regularly to drive progress of the 2022 plan.

This is the first stage of an ambitious multi-annual waiting list plan, which is currently under development in the Department of Health. Between them, these plans will work to support short, medium, and long term initiatives to reduce waiting times and provide the activity needed in years to come.

The data requested by the Deputy regarding the number of women awaiting gynaecology appointments by hospital in tabular form and the average waiting time for a gynaecology appointment by hospital in 2021 and to date in 2022 is outlined in the attached document. The NTPF has advised my Department that the health system does not collect the data necessary to calculate average wait times. In particular, the time to treatment of patients who have already received their care is not collected. The NTPF collects data on patients currently on the waiting list and the average time that these patients have been waiting is provided here.

Total Females Waiting for an Outpatient Gynaecology Appointment by Hospital as at 27/01/2022

Hospital	Total
Beaumont Hospital	499
Cavan General Hospital	950
Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown	429
Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital	2,741
Cork University Maternity Hospital	2,356
Ennis Hospital	599
Galway University Hospitals	2,035
Letterkenny University Hospital	485
Louth County Hospital	352
Mater Misericordiae University Hospital	328
Mayo University Hospital	659
Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar	1,298
Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise	1,386
Nenagh Hospital	272
Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda	1,383
Our Lady's Hospital Navan	306
Portiuncula University Hospital	853
Rotunda Hospital	2,811
Sligo University Hospital	960
St. Columcille's Hospital	33
St. James's Hospital	82
St. John's Hospital Limerick	435
St. Luke's General Hospital Kilkenny	490
St. Michael's Hospital	466
St. Vincent's University Hospital	301
Tallaght University Hospital	3,051
Tipperary University Hospital	500
University Hospital Kerry	1,019
University Hospital Limerick	1,455
University Hospital Waterford	747
Wexford General Hospital	1,231
Children's Health Ireland	293
Grand Total	30,805

Average (and Median) Wait Time (Female Only) for an Outpatient Gynaecology Appointment by Hospital Dec ' 21 vs Jan' 22

-	23/12/2021		27/01/2022
Row Labels	Average Wait Time - Days	Median Wait Time - Days	Average Wait Time - Days	Median Wait Time - Days
Beaumont Hospital	103	99	125	120
Cavan General Hospital	174	146	182	156.5
Children's Health Ireland	226	168	243	190
Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown	142	125	150	129
Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital	237	160	237	160
Cork University Maternity Hospital	130	89	141	100
Ennis Hospital	507	428	506	421
Galway University Hospitals	222	111	241	120
Letterkenny University Hospital	83	55	98	70
Louth County Hospital	172	160	178	177
Mater Misericordiae University Hospital	80	44.5	89	55
Mayo University Hospital	191	174	180	169
Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar	170	128	179	140
Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise	347	248.5	366	272
Nenagh Hospital	456	406	455	411
Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda	153	120	159	134
Our Lady's Hospital Navan	373	300.5	390	305
Portiuncula University Hospital	164	140.5	172	147
Rotunda Hospital	118	104	124	110
Sligo University Hospital	344	273.5	366	294
St. Columcille's Hospital	131	112	152	144
St. James's Hospital	26	13	24	14.5
St. John's Hospital Limerick	203	176.5	215	182
St. Luke's General Hospital Kilkenny	71	61	85	78
St. Michael's Hospital	375	267.5	379	278
St. Vincent's University Hospital	181	119	188	124
Tallaght University Hospital	651	376	652	361
Tipperary University Hospital	120	99	136	125
University Hospital Kerry	258	196	280	222
University Hospital Limerick	276	133	291	141
University Hospital Waterford	150	127	163	146
Wexford General Hospital	163	148.5	172	156

Question No. 727 answered with Question No. 726.