Aindrias Moynihan
Ceist:13. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Health his plans to reduce waiting lists for orthopaedic treatment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17007/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 19 April 2018
Ceisteanna (13)
Freagraí ó Béal (5 píosaí cainte)
People regularly come to my constituency office and to clinics in great pain. Many are completely immobilised and in great distress as they wait for hip operations, often up to two years. What action is being taken to tackle waiting lists for hip operations in Cork where people regularly wait 18 months to two years?
Improving waiting times for hospital treatment is a key commitment in the programme for Government. In 2018, €50 million was allocated to the national treatment purchase fund, NTPF, to provide treatment for patients. In recent weeks, I published the inpatient/day case action plan which outlines the combined impact of HSE and NTPF activity in 2018. It projects a reduction in the number of patients waiting for treatment to below 70,000 by year end, from a peak of 86,100 in July 2017. To achieve this the NTPF will arrange treatment for 20,000 patients, while the HSE will deliver 1.14 million inpatient or day case procedures.
Orthopaedic procedures are a key focus and the action plan places a particular emphasis on hip and knee replacements, with €10 million of the €55 million budget allocated by the NTPF for such procedures. This means that all patients waiting over nine months for a hip or knee replacement in 2018, if clinically suitable for treatment in alternative private or public hospitals, will be offered treatment this year. The NTPF will also offer treatment to a range of other patients awaiting orthopaedic treatments in 2018.
While the improvements set out in the plan are significant, I am committed to building on this progress in 2019 and to further reduce waiting time for Irish patients.
Any patient waiting in Cork or anywhere else for a hip or knee operation for nine months or longer will get an offer of surgery this year once it is clinically appropriate.
I thank the Minister for this information which is positive and helpful. I acknowledge there has been some movement on the matter. A great deal of the resources have been put into the NTPF which is a good move. My party pressed to have it included in the last budget. However, I am concerned that the NTPF is dealing with waiting lists, which is short term. Is a long term solution being put in place to prevent the lists growing further? The number of people waiting in Cork has doubled in the last two years, from over 250 to almost 500. Even if there is any small reduction in the figure, one is still only treading water. We need to know that a long term solution is in place for people going on those waiting lists. It seriously impacts people's quality of life. Take Dan Joe who came into my office who has had to stop driving because he is unable to move his foot and Chris has been waiting for over a year and a half. Many of these people are being told that they will have to wait 18 months to two years. I acknowledge the Minister's commitment but these are people who have received recent responses from the HSE. Is the HSE aware of the Minister's target?
Deputy Moynihan's comments are fair. The NTPF is used to drive down waiting times, which is an appropriate way to use it. We will get offers of treatment to anyone waiting over nine months this year which is a significant improvement on which we need to build further. The Deputy is correct. What we need to do in the longer term is elective only hospitals, one for Cork, one for Dublin and one for Galway. They are funded in the capital plan, so the funding is there and we need to get on and deliver them. Looking at other jurisdictions, in Scotland they established an elective-only hospital where they bought what had been a private hospital and converted it to a hospital to drive down waiting lists. They made huge progress and I want to do that in Ireland. I have the funding to do it and there will be hospitals in Cork, Dublin and Galway.
If Deputy Moynihan is happy with that answer I will move to his colleague Deputy Cahill.