Vol. 508 No. 2
118 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of persons awaiting heart surgery; the length of time they have been on these lists; the waiting time for attention in these cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18467/99]
Adult cardiac bypass surgery in the public health sector is currently carried out at three centres, the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin, Cork University Hospital and since September 1998, St. James's Hospital, Dublin. Paediatric cardiac surgery is carried out at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin.
As the Deputy will be aware, public patient waiting list statistics are collected by hospitals and furnished to my Department on a quarterly basis. At the end of June 1999, the most recent period for which information is available, there was a total of 763 adults awaiting cardiac surgery over 12 months and 259 waiting for three to 12 months. There was a total of 66 children awaiting cardiac surgery over six months, and 18 waiting for three to six months.
The Deputy will be aware that, in 1998, I allocated funding of £2.3 million under the cardiac surgery waiting list initiative, with the specific aim of reducing the national cardiac surgery waiting list for adults and children. In 1999, I have made provision for the allocation of £4 million under the cardiac surgery waiting list initiative and I am confident that this funding will build on last year's success in reducing the total number of adults and children on the waiting list. The impact of the 1998 cardiac surgery waiting list initiative was to reduce the overall numbers waiting, adults and children at the end of December 1998 by 142. This represents a reduction of over 10 per cent on the figure for December 1997.
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.
119 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the waiting list in respect of patients seeking surgery for the removal of cataracts; the number of patients on these lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18468/99]
121 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children the extent, if any, to which he has made provision for early access for those seeking surgery or other elective treatments in hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18470/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 119 and 121 together.
The number of adults awaiting cataract operations at the end of June 1999 was 3,156. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the waiting list figures at the end of June 1999 show a reduction of 1,072 on the March figures. This means that waiting lists have fallen by almost 3,000, some 8 per cent since the beginning of this year. The reductions in March and June 1999 are the first since December 1996.
Since coming into office, I have taken an integrated approach to the problem of waiting lists. As the Deputy will be aware, I commissioned a review of the waiting list initiative. I am now implementing a series of measures aimed at tackling the root causes of waiting lists. I allocated £20 million this year to agencies specifically to undertake waiting list work, with £3 million of this funding being allocated to the agencies which achieved the greatest improvements in their waiting lists in the first quarter of the year. This was in line with the recommendations of the review group report.
I also allocated £9 million to services for older people and £2 million to accident and emergency services, with the aim of freeing acute hospital beds by ensuring the streamlining of emergency services and providing additional step-down and rehabilitation facilities for older people.
I am confident that the measures I have taken in tackling waiting lists represent the best way of addressing the underlying causes of waiting lists and long waiting times.
