Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 July 2022
94. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health if the waiting list initiative has been impacted by the latest surge in Covid-19 hospital admissions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37520/22]
View answerI launched the 2022 Waiting List Action Plan in February following extensive engagement between my Department, the HSE and the NTPF.
This Plan contains 45 actions to reduce and reform waiting lists, including ambitious targets for significantly reducing hospital scheduled care waiting lists to their lowest level in five years, as well as radically reducing waiting times.
Overall, active hospital waiting lists have remained broadly within the targets of the 2022 Waiting List Action Plan (WLAP) despite multiple challenges.
The first half of the year has been impacted by COVID-19 surges, with associated curtailment of elective activity resulting from managing increased COVID-19 positive patients in hospitals and reduced staffing levels from the higher prevalence of COVID-19 in the community. The number of COVID-positive patients in our hospitals exceeded 1,000 this week.
Recent high levels of Emergency Department attendances, especially when combined with increased COVID-19 prevalence, have also resulted in additional curtailment of elective activity in some hospitals, all of which is negatively impacting our ability to remain aligned to our ambitious waiting list reduction targets.
However, to date the loss of activity has been broadly compensated by lower additions to waiting lists. Lower hospital waiting list referrals is likely another impact of the COVID-19 surges, but enhanced direct access to diagnostics for GPs in the community is also helping.
There are recent indicators that hospital waiting list additions and removals are now returning to projected levels which means the HSE and the NTPF are focusing on the challenges of ramping up their additional activity levels, funded by the Plan, over the coming months to ensure we remain aligned with the targets set out in the Plan.
Despite these challenges, patients waiting more than 6 months for 15 ‘high volume procedures’ are on target to receive an offer of treatment by the NTPF in 2022. These procedures are currently being expanded to 20 and represent approximately a third of people currently on the IPDC waiting list.
A Waiting List Task Force, co-chaired by the Secretary General of my Department and HSE CEO, meets regularly to oversee and drive delivery of the Plan.
