Hospital Waiting Lists

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 July 2021

Tuesday, 13 July 2021

Ceisteanna (123, 128)

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

123. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Health if additional orthopaedic capacity will be provided in 2021 to reduce waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28577/21]

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

128. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Health if additional orthopaedic capacity will be provided at an early date in view of increasing waiting lists for adult and paediatric orthopaedic surgery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28578/21]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

I propose to take Questions Nos. 123 and 128 together.

It is recognised that waiting times for scheduled appointments and procedures have been impacted in the last sixteen months as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently as a result of the ransomware attack.

While significant progress was made in reducing waiting times from June 2020 onwards, the surge in Covid-19 cases in the first quarter of 2021, and the resultant curtailment of acute hospital services, is reflected in the most recently available waiting list figures to 13th May 2021.

On 23 March 2021 the HSE published the “Safe Return to Health Services Plan”, outlining a three phased approach for the proposed restoration of services across Community Services, Acute Hospital Operations, Cancer Services and Screening Services. It sets target times for their safe return and details the conditions and challenges that will have to be met. However, the implementation of this plan has been suspended pending the resolution of the recent ransomware attack, which had a significant impact on acute hospitals.  

The HSE has been working since 14th May last to recover the effects of the cyber attack on its systems. The HSE advise that at present most systems are operational and services are returning to normal activity. There is a challenge in back entering data and there are still a number of areas of ongoing concern. The HSE was already seeking to recover from the Covid peak in the first quarter of this year and the ransomware attack has delayed this and had the effect of increasing access delays for services. My Department  does not have full access to information on the impact of this ransomware attack on elective waiting lists but will provide an update as soon as one is available.

Due to the ongoing IT issues triggered by the HSE cyber-attack, the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) has been unable to receive weekly national hospital waiting list data or downloads. The latest published waiting list information was collated by the NTPF on 13th May 2021

At the 13th of May 2021, nationwide there were 11,073 patients waiting for an adult or child orthopaedic IPDC procedure, a reduction of 19% (-2,569) compared to the same period last year. At the 13th May 2021 there were 75,799 waiting for a first outpatient appointment across all hospital groups, an increase of 6% (+4,379) compared to the same period last year.

Specifically in terms of hip and knee replacements, the NTPF have advised the Department that at the end of May 2020 there were 3,042 patients waiting for such a procedure. Through focused activity, and with the support of the NTPF, at the 13th May 2021 this figure had fallen by 26 % to 2,256 patients.

The NTPF have advised that they have provided funding for a number of Insourcing initiatives to reduce Orthopaedic waiting lists in 2021, which will see 15,385 patients receive appointments and procedures. Details of these initiatives are outlined in the attached document.

-		NTPF Insourcing Approved Orthopaedic OPD Proposals 2021
Referring Hospital	Initiative Type	Volume
CHI at Crumlin	OPD	1,680
St James's Hospital	OPD	920
Naas General Hospital	OPD	810
Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore	OPD	500
Tallaght University Hospital	OPD	670
Mater Misericordiae University Hospital	OPD	278
St Vincent's University Hospital	OPD	150
National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh	OPD	150
Cavan General Hospital	OPD	491
Beaumont Hospital	OPD	600
Sligo University Hospital	OPD	30
University Hospital Kerry	OPD	2,000
University Hospital Waterford	OPD See & Treat	550
Croom Orthopaedic Hospital	OPD Full Package of Care	1000
University Hospital Limerick	OPD	1432
	Total	11,261

-		NTPF Insourcing Approved Orthopaedic IPDC Proposals 2021
Referring Hospital	Initiative Type	Volume
CHI at Crumlin	IPDC	18
Tallaght University Hospital	IPDC	259
Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore	IPDC	359
St James's Hospital	IPDC	667
National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh	IPDC	583
Our Lady's Hospital, Navan	IPDC	389
St Vincent's University Hospital	IPDC	321
Beaumont Hospital	IPDC	188
Galway University Hospitals	IPDC	83
University Hospital Kerry	IPDC	44
South Infirmary - Victoria University Hospital	IPDC	162
Kilcreene Orthopaedic Hospital	IPDC	456
Croom Orthopaedic Hospital	IPDC	584
Other Hospitals	IPDC	11
	Total	4,124

Inpatient - Daycase (IPDC) Orthopaedics, numbers waiting by time-band (months) as at 13/05/2021

Time-bands	0-6 Mths	6-12 Mths	12-18 Mths	18 + Mths	Total
Adult Orthopaedics	4,964	1,830	1,196	1,578	9,568
Child Orthopaedics	223	59	43	15	340
Paediatric Orthopaedics	442	234	203	286	1,165
Grand Total	5,629	2,123	1,442	1,879	11,073

Outpatient (OPD) Orthopaedics, numbers waiting by time-band (months) as at 13/05/2021

Time-bands	0-6 Mths	6-12 Mths	12-18 Mths	18 + Mths	Total
Adult Orthopaedics	23,597	16,489	11,245	17,932	69,263
Child Orthopaedics	1,412	706	389	491	2,998
Paediatric Orthopaedics	1,251	929	380	978	3,538
Grand Total	26,260	18,124	12,014	19,401	75,799

An additional €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 NTPF. This is to be used to fund additional capacity to address the shortfall arising as a result of infection control measures taken in the context of COVID-19, as well as addressing backlogs in waiting lists.

My Department, the HSE and the NTPF are currently working on a Multiannual Waiting List Plan to address waiting lists and bring them in line with Sláintecare targets over the coming years.