Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 October 2023
515. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Health the current average waiting times, from referral to procedure, for patients awaiting cataract surgery in UHL; if there is a delivery timeline guideline in place by which the service aims to treat these patients; if so, the timeline; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46128/23]
View answerIt is recognised that waiting times for many scheduled appointments and procedures were too long before and have been made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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.
The 2023 Waiting List Action Plan builds on the foundational work done in the 2021 and 2022 plans, both of which reversed the annual trend of rising waiting lists.
For 2023, funding totalling €443 million is being allocated to tackle Waiting Lists with €363 million of this being allocated to the 2023 Waiting List Action Plan, to reduce hospital waiting lists by implementing longer term reforms and providing additional public and private activity to clear backlogs exacerbated during the pandemic. The remaining €80 million of the €443 million is being targeted at various measures to alleviate community/primary care waiting lists.
With the funding from Budget 2024 (€407 million), we are taking the next steps in the multi-annual approach towards achieving the vision of a world-class public healthcare system in which everyone has timely and transparent access to high-quality scheduled care, where and when they need it, in line with Sláintecare reforms.
The information requested by the Deputy concerning the average waiting time for cataract surgery at UHL, is outlined in the attached document. The NTPF has advised 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.
With regard to a delivery timeline guideline in place by which the service aims to treat these patients; as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
