Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 May 2022
761. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health if cataract surgery in the case of a person (details supplied) is financially covered under their full medical card; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27993/22]
View answerI understand that following contact from officials in my Department, which provided some information to him, the Deputy is also seeking details of average waiting times for cataract surgery.
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 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 25th 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 Lis 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 programme, 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 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. The attached document outlines the national average waiting time nationally for patients currently on the waiting list for an ophthalmology OPD appointment ( it should be borne in mind that not all patients on the ophthalmology out patient list will need cataract surgery) and the national average waiting time for patients currently on the waiting list for a cataract procedure as of April 2022.
Average waits for OP Ophthalmology and IP Cataracts as at 28/04/2022
|
ArchiveDate |
Report |
Mean Wait(Days) |
Median Wait(Days) |
|
28/04/2022 |
OP Ophthalmology |
466 |
285 |
|
ArchiveDate |
Report |
Mean Wait(Days) |
Median Wait(Days) |
|
28/04/2022 |
Cataracts |
142 |
92 |
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.
