HSE Waiting Lists

Wednesday, 10 March 2021

Ceisteanna (858)

David Cullinane

Ceist:

858. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the number of children currently waiting on a first outpatients appointment with a specialist consultant in the HSE, to include all hospitals not just children waiting to see a consultant in CHI; the length of the wait; the speciality they are waiting to see; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12973/21]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

It is recognised that waiting times for scheduled appointments and procedures have been impacted in the last year as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The HSE is currently recommending that only critical time dependent elective procedures are undertaken at this time due to the on-going and significant increased demand for bed capacity related to Covid-19.

This decision was made arising from the rapid increase in Covid-19 admissions and to ensure patient safety and that all appropriate resources were made available for Covid-19 related activity and time-critical essential work.

Patient safety remains at the centre of all hospital activity and elective care scheduling. To ensure services are provided in a safe, clinically-aligned and prioritised way, hospitals are following HSE clinical guidelines and protocols.

The HSE continues to optimise productivity through alternative work practices such as the use of alternative settings including private hospitals, community facilities and alternative outpatient settings.

In addition the National Treatment Purchas Fund (NTPF) is currently reviewing strategies to maximise activity and benefit for patients, to include, increased use of private hospitals , funding weekend and evening work in public hospitals, funding “ see and treat” services where minor procedures are provided at the same time outpatient consultations, funding hybrid services where public and private hospitals contribute to the treatment of patients, virtual clinics, and clinical validation.

€240 million has been provided in Budget 2021 for an access to care fund, €210m of which has been allocated to the HSE and a further €30m to the National Treatment Purchase Fund. This will be used to fund additional capacity to address the shortfall arising as a result of measures taken in the context of Covid-19, as well as to address waiting lists.

The National Waiting List Management Policy is a standardised approach used by the HSE to manage scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures. It sets out the processes that hospitals are to implement to manage waiting lists and was developed in 2014 to ensure that all administrative, managerial and clinical staff follow an agreed national minimum standard for the management and administration of waiting lists for scheduled care.

The data requested by the Deputy has been provided to my Department by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) and is outlined in the attached document. This document provides a breakdown of the Outpatient waiting lists for children, by Specialty and the numbers waiting in each time-band as of the end of January 2021.

Child OP Waiting List Per Speciality at 28/01/2021

-	0-3 Months	3-6 Months	6-9 Months	9-12 Months	12-15 Months	15-18 Months	18 Months +	Grand Total
Breast Surgery	7	5		7				19
Cardiology	36	20	19	25	9	7	12	128
Cardio-Thoracic Surgery	53	27	19	12	8		7	126
Child/Adolescent Psychiatry	27				5			32
Clinical (Medical) Genetics	204	194	135	177	195	168	828	1,901
Clinical Immunology	171	88	45	78	128	119	1,062	1,691
Clinical Neurophysiology			11	11	5			27
Dental Surgery	65	43	29	72	70	41	155	475
Dermatology	671	463	297	321	274	250	937	3,213
Developmental Paediatrics	93	63	33	78	55	97	476	895
Endocrinology	6							6
Gastro-Enterology	6							6
General Medicine	18	9						27
General Surgery	515	405	225	207	128	126	198	1,804
Gynaecology	197	116	57	51	29	12	14	476
Haematology	37	27	10	7				81
Immunology	63	40	13	33	36	53	300	538
Maxillo-Facial	56	36	17	26	29	23	130	317
Neonatology	9	5						14
Neurology	15	9		7				31
Neurosurgery	8							8
Ophthalmology	1,381	844	457	620	562	435	2,853	7,152
Oral Surgery	45	20	8	18	21	27	61	200
Orthopaedics	662	505	274	287	239	187	440	2,594
Otolaryngology (ENT)	1,191	875	544	1,143	1,174	874	6,728	12,529
Paed Cardiology	913	709	470	380	215	190	268	3,145
Paed Endocrinology	241	150	69	82	103	83	71	799
Paed Gastro-Enterol	268	154	62	79	64	70	549	1,246
Paed Haematology	71	57	31	36	13	5	19	232
Paed Metabolic Medicine	32	24	5					61
Paed Nephrology	173	112	61	51	27	31	48	503
Paed Orthopaedic	685	635	410	445	423	404	1,288	4,290
Paediatric Anaesthetics	13	5	7			8	48	81
Paediatric Dermatology	716	517	343	327	319	360	2,426	5,008
Paediatric ENT	728	559	334	714	820	674	2,164	5,993
Paediatric Infectious Diseases	31	18	30	14	27	6	6	132
Paediatric Neurology	416	172	55	77	107	58	252	1,137
Paediatric Neurosurgery	26						7	33
Paediatric Respiratory Medicine	230	164	136	255	236	199	854	2,074
Paediatric Surgery	1,068	879	558	431	352	333	467	4,088
Paediatric Urology	207	172	106	114	151	81	364	1,195
Paediatrics	5,248	2,835	1,348	1,113	754	331	613	12,242
Pain Relief	9	9	5		7			30
Plastic Surgery	380	280	213	229	289	222	470	2,083
Respiratory Medicine							7	7
Rheumatology	129	97	58	83	81	72	756	1,276
Small Vol Specialties	11	24	35	19	20	15	18	142
Urology	424	349	252	250	252	236	691	2,454
Vascular Surgery	9	5						14
Grand Total	17,564	11,720	6,781	7,879	7,227	5,797	25,587	82,555

*Due to the small volume of patients waiting in certain specialties, to preserve patient confidentiality, when the number of patients is <5, these have been included within broader timebands or aggregated into a 'Small Volume Specialties' cohort.