Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 May 2019
79. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the reason the list for those waiting more than a year and a half for an outpatient appointment increased from circa 13,000 three years ago to over 100,000 in March 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20744/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am conscious that the Outpatient Waiting List remains a significant challenge as demand for acute hospital services continues to grow. Reducing waiting time for patients for hospital appointments and procedures is a key priority for Government and the Sláintecare Action Plan 2019 which was published by my Department, includes a specific workstream on Access and Waiting Lists.
Sláintecare emphasises the need to invest in increased capacity while also shifting the balance of care from hospitals to community services for better health outcomes and a more sustainable health service. In addition, many of the other service reforms and enhancements included in Sláintecare will support timely access to care for patients in the coming years.
Budget 2019 announced that the Government had further increased investment in tackling waiting lists, with funding to the NTPF increasing from €55 million in 2018 to €75 million in 2019.
I published the joint Department of Health, HSE, and NTPF Scheduled Care Access Plan 2019 in March. The plan sets out measures to improve care for patients waiting for scheduled care in 2019 by reducing wait times for hospital operations and procedures and outpatient appointments. A key element of the Plan is the stabilisation of the Outpatient Waiting List. Under the Plan the HSE, in line with the National Service Plan, will aim to deliver 3.3 million outpatient appointments, of which approximately 1 million will be first appointments. Under the plan the NTPF will use €6 million to deliver 40,000 first Outpatient appointments.
The plan includes a target that the number of patients waiting for a first Outpatient appointment will fall from over 516,000 at the end of 2018 to under 509,000 by the end of 2019. This target takes into account the more than 800,000 new patients who will be added to the Outpatient waiting list in 2019; a figure that is based on trends for the previous two years.
The NTPF advise that over recent months they have placed a particular focus on engaging with hospital groups and individual hospitals to identify outpatient waiting list proposals. While the NTPF have already approved over 38,000 outpatient appointments, they advise that the impact of these initiatives may not be seen until the end of the year. Approximately 75% of appointments approved to date relate to 4 high-volume specialties, specifically Ophthalmology, ENT, Orthopaedics, and Dermatology.
I have asked the HSE, the NTPF and my department, under the Access Plan, to work together with the objective of developing medium-long term improvement initiatives for patient access to hospital procedures. This will include moving care to more appropriate settings and providing care at the lowest level of complexity such as providing ophthalmology in the community; maximising the use of Advanced Nurse Practitioner led clinics; and physiotherapists to manage orthopaedic clinics.
