Austin Deasy
Ceist:37 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will eliminate the waiting list for medical card holders who are awaiting heart surgery; and the average waiting period for these patients. [18944/98]
Written Answers. - Hospital Waiting Lists.
The Deputy will wish to know that the public patient waiting list figures furnished to my Department on a quarterly basis do not distinguish between medical card holders and other public patients. Priority for treatment for public patients is determined on the basis of clinical need. Regarding the numbers waiting for cardiac surgery at the end of June, the most recent period for which information is available, there were 1142 adults and 69 children on the public cardiac surgery waiting list. A breakdown of this list is contained in the following Table 1. The Deputy will note from the following Table 2 that the end of June 1998 waiting list total compares favourably with the figures for the same period last year, showing a reduction of 24 per cent for adults awaiting surgery and 32 per cent for children.
The Deputy will be aware that in January of this year I announced the development of a national cardiovascular strategy aimed at achieving an integrated approach to the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. The proposals are built around three key initiatives as follows: the establishment of a national strategy to improve cardiovascular health; the provision of additional public cardiac surgery facilities for adults and children to tackle the backlog of patients awaiting surgery and to guarantee public hospital patients access to cardiac surgery within an average waiting period of six months of being placed on the waiting list; and the development of a heart-lung transplant programme for patients with cystic fibrosis and other lung diseases in the medium term.
As Minister for Health and Children, my priority is to address the existing cardiac surgery waiting lists and the ultimate objective is to achieve an average six month waiting period for those on the lists. I am confident that the development of additional adult public cardiac surgery facilities at St. James's Hospital, Dublin and University College Hospital, Galway will help reduce the waiting lists which exist at present. Target activity levels are in the region of 450 procedures annually at St. James's Hospital and 300 procedures at UCHG. This additional activity will increase existing adult public cardiac surgery capacity by over 50 per cent. I am also developing additional children's cardiac surgery capacity at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin in association with the National Cardiac Unit, Mater Hospital to provide for up to an additional 100 cardiac procedures for children. This additional activity will increase existing paediatric cardiac surgery capacity by up to 40 per cent.
The Deputy may be aware that I recently announced a major package of investment in cardiac services totalling £4.9 million This investment is made up of two elements, £2.3 million to reduce waiting lists for cardiac surgery patients under the 1998 cardiac surgery waiting list initiative and £2.6 million to meet the 1998 cost of improvements in cardiac care infrastructure to support the forthcoming cardiovascular health strategy outlined above. These initiatives included an allocation of £787,500 in respect of additional cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology procedures at Cork University Hospital.
With regard to the interim measures to reduce the public cardiac surgery waiting list, the 1998 initiative target is to provide appropriate treatment for an additional 265 adults and an additional 30 children. My Department's strategy for achieving this aim involves the purchase of additional cardiac procedures in both the public and private sectors and the treatment of suitable patients with medical cardiac therapies. I am confident that these measures will build on last year's success in reducing the total number of adults and children on the national cardiac surgery waiting list.
Cardiac Surgery Waiting List — End of June 1998
|
Hospital |
Adults 3-12 Months |
Adults Over 12 Months |
Children 3-6 Months |
Children Over 6 Months |
|
Mater Hospital |
131 |
590 |
– |
– |
|
St. James's Hospital |
133 |
226 |
– |
– |
|
Cork University Hospital |
51 |
11 |
– |
– |
|
Our Lady's Hospital, Crumlin |
– |
– |
22 |
47 |
Cardiac Surgery Waiting List 1997-98 Comparison
|
Total Adults |
Total Children |
|
|
End of June 1997 |
1,496 |
102 |
|
End of June 1998 |
1,142 |
69 |