Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 October 2022
638. Deputy Malcolm Noonan asked the Minister for Health the steps that are being taken to address the waiting list of referrals for children for appointments with community ophthalmologists; the action that he will take to decrease waiting times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53074/22]
View answerThe Health Service Executive (HSE) have advised that COVID-19 continues to pose significant challenges for many service areas. This has unfortunately had unavoidable negative impacts on waiting lists. The HSE continues to work hard to address these issues and find solutions to the difficulties resulting from the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. The HSE is committed to delivering efficient high quality Ophthalmology services to all eligible service users.
The HSE Primary Care Eye Services Review Group Report, published in June 2017, set out current levels of service, models of service provision and the consultation process undertaken with patients, advocates, ophthalmic staff and representative bodies. It also highlighted the limitations of the current model of service delivery, including the impact on waiting lists, and set out the way forward for a significant amount of eye services to be delivered in a primary care setting.
The Report estimated that 60% of existing outpatient activity could be moved to primary care thus enabling hospital services to focus on patients who require more specialist diagnostics or treatments. This Report remains current and the HSE has advised that it will advance the transfer of care for children aged 8+ years to local optometrists, thereby reducing waiting lists and enhancing access to primary eye care services.A project team with a wide-ranging membership was established in late 2019 / early 2020 to progress this initiative. The work of the team was paused due to the requirement to focus resources on the COVID 19 pandemic. However, the project team has been reconvened and is progressing matters in relation to this initiative.
