Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 September 2012
1579. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the basis on which waiting list category definitions have been changed; the definition of each category in terms of recommended operation time before and after the change; the number of patients in each category before the change; the number in each category after the change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37119/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI can confirm that to date there have been no changes to the waiting list data capture categorisation since the patient treatment register (PTR) was established in 2005. As you are aware a new target of 9 month maximum waiting time for daycase and inpatient surgery has been implemented. The challenge for 2012 is firstly to maintain the 12 month maximum waiting time target for in patient and day case procedures and then to continually improve and move to a 9 month maximum waiting time target.
At present the categorisation of patients within the scheduled care system is neither defined with sufficient clarity nor enacted for each patient with sufficient consistency. The lack of clarity is contributed to by some ambiguity and vagueness within the existing definitions; and the lack of consistency by insufficiently rigorous attributions within hospital data sets, and inadequate audit and review processes. Unless we succeed in introducing much higher levels of clarity and consistency, effective systems management will be impossible. In that context it is the intention later in 2012 to request clinicians to categorise their referrals as either 'urgent' or 'routine'. It is important to emphasise that determining urgency will always rest with clinicians.
