Michael McGrath
Ceist:421. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Health the reason more than 16,000 persons had been waiting over a year for an outpatient appointment in County Cork hospitals in April 2018. [23513/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 29 May 2018
Ceisteanna (421)
Freagraí scríofa
I acknowledge that Outpatient waiting times are often unacceptably long and I am conscious of the burden that this places on patients and their families.
Each year 3.3 million patients attend Hospital Outpatient clinics for appointments, with demand for services growing year-on-year. A key component of the management of waiting lists by hospitals is the categorisation of patients by clinical priority to ensure that all patients receive care in timely and clinically appropriate matter.
The HSE National Service Plan 2018 sets out a target that 80% of patients waiting for a first outpatient appointment will be seen within a 52 week wait timeframe. Based upon HSE figures for March 2018 these hospitals are seeing on average over 78% outpatients within 52 weeks.
In 2017, Cork hospitals (Bantry General; Cork University Hospital; Cork University Maternity Hospital; Mallow General; Mercy University Hospital; South Infirmary University Hospital) had over 351,000 Outpatient Department attendances. However, almost 43,000 patients across these hospitals did not attend their appointments last year.
The HSE is working with the National Treatment Purchase Fund and my Department to finalise a joint outpatient Waiting List Action Plan focused on improving overall use of resources to tackle long patient waiting times and ensuring timely access to treatment and care for our patients. I hope to publish this Plan shortly. As part of this process the National Treatment Purchase Fund and the HSE are currently reviewing proposals from hospitals for outpatient initiatives.