Phil Hogan
Ceist:55 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of people on the waiting list for ear, nose and throat operations, hip replacement and general surgery for each of the years from 1996 to date. [13922/98]
Written Answers. - Hospital Waiting Lists.
The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table. December 1997 is the latest date for which final validated figures are available.
|
December 1996 |
December 1997 |
|
|
Ear, Nose and Throat |
5,291 |
7,138 |
|
Hip replacements |
1,135 |
1,400 |
|
General Surgery |
2,614 |
2,958 |
I have provided a total of £12 million to address hospital waiting lists in 1998. This brings to £70 million the total resources committed to the reduction of hospital waiting lists since the current initiative commenced in 1993. It represents a 50 per cent increase over the funding made available last year for waiting list work.
In order to maximise the effectiveness of the waiting list initiative, I recently announced a review group consisting of clinicians and managers to consider the net effect of the current waiting list initiative on waiting lists and waiting times; any incentive effects of the waiting list initiative on participating hospitals in relation to their activity and treatment schedules; the extent to which hospitals can consistently and accurately validate their waiting lists; and the adequacy of existing information systems to permit routine evaluation of the waiting list initiative.
I have asked the review group to report to me by the end of June so that its recommendations can be taken into account for the Estimates process in 1999 and subsequent years.