Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
2756. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Health the number of persons waiting for cataract surgery by county; the average wait time; the number waiting over one, two, three and four years, respectively by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39008/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt 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 was 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.
In recent years, my Department has worked with the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to improve access for patients waiting for high volume procedures, including cataracts. Ophthalmology services are provided throughout all hospital groups in the country, with cataract removal one of the key procedures carried out as part of this specialty.
A key development in improving access to Ophthalmology services was the opening of a stand-alone high-volume consultant-led cataract theatre by the University of Limerick Hospital Group in Nenagh Hospital in 2018, with the intention that it would facilitate patients from surrounding geographical areas to avail of their treatment there. The impact of such initiatives can be seen in the reduction in the waiting times to access cataract procedures since 2019. At the 13th of May 2021 there were 4,275 patients waiting for a cataract procedure compared to 6,437 in January 2019.
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.
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.
The information requested by the Deputy, concerning the number of persons waiting for cataract surgery by county; the average wait time; the number waiting over one, two, three and four years, is outlined in the attached document.
The NTPF has advised that the health system does not collect the data necessary to calculate average wait times. In particular, the time to treatment of patients who have already received their care is not collected. The NTPF collects data on patients currently on the waiting list and the average time that these patients have been waiting is provided here.
Cataract Waiters by County as of 13/5/2021 - Please note that the 4+ years is too small to include so it’s been merged into 3+ years
|
Sum of Amount |
Column Labels |
||||
|
Row Labels |
< 1 year |
< 2 years |
< 3 years |
3+ years |
Grand Total |
|
Carlow |
23 |
13 |
5 |
41 |
|
|
Cavan |
72 |
10 |
82 |
||
|
Clare |
73 |
22 |
95 |
||
|
Cork |
135 |
13 |
148 |
||
|
Donegal |
124 |
45 |
169 |
||
|
Dublin |
1469 |
133 |
20 |
1622 |
|
|
Galway |
215 |
12 |
227 |
||
|
Kerry |
27 |
27 |
|||
|
Kildare |
125 |
12 |
137 |
||
|
Kilkenny |
19 |
10 |
29 |
||
|
Laois |
36 |
36 |
|||
|
Leitrim |
21 |
11 |
32 |
||
|
Limerick |
132 |
43 |
9 |
184 |
|
|
Longford |
22 |
10 |
32 |
||
|
Louth |
120 |
9 |
129 |
||
|
Mayo |
90 |
14 |
5 |
109 |
|
|
Meath |
223 |
20 |
243 |
||
|
Monaghan |
52 |
52 |
|||
|
Offaly |
42 |
6 |
48 |
||
|
Roscommon |
55 |
10 |
65 |
||
|
Sligo |
98 |
26 |
6 |
130 |
|
|
Small Volume Areas |
13 |
26 |
17 |
56 |
|
|
Tipperary |
107 |
31 |
11 |
149 |
|
|
Unknown |
13 |
13 |
|||
|
Waterford |
55 |
25 |
13 |
93 |
|
|
Westmeath |
93 |
10 |
103 |
||
|
Wexford |
72 |
24 |
18 |
114 |
|
|
Wicklow |
96 |
14 |
110 |
||
|
Grand Total |
3609 |
536 |
113 |
17 |
4275 |
Mean NumDays: 177
Median NumDays: 96
|
Area of Residence |
TimeBand |
Amount |
|
Carlow |
< 1 year |
23 |
|
Cavan |
< 1 year |
72 |
|
Clare |
< 1 year |
73 |
|
Cork |
< 1 year |
135 |
|
Donegal |
< 1 year |
124 |
|
Dublin |
< 1 year |
1469 |
|
Galway |
< 1 year |
215 |
|
Kerry |
< 1 year |
27 |
|
Kildare |
< 1 year |
125 |
|
Kilkenny |
< 1 year |
19 |
|
Laois |
< 1 year |
36 |
|
Leitrim |
< 1 year |
21 |
|
Limerick |
< 1 year |
132 |
|
Longford |
< 1 year |
22 |
|
Louth |
< 1 year |
120 |
|
Mayo |
< 1 year |
90 |
|
Meath |
< 1 year |
223 |
|
Monaghan |
< 1 year |
52 |
|
Offaly |
< 1 year |
42 |
|
Roscommon |
< 1 year |
55 |
|
Sligo |
< 1 year |
98 |
|
Tipperary |
< 1 year |
107 |
|
Unknown |
< 1 year |
13 |
|
Waterford |
< 1 year |
55 |
|
Westmeath |
< 1 year |
93 |
|
Wexford |
< 1 year |
72 |
|
Wicklow |
< 1 year |
96 |
|
Carlow |
< 2 years |
13 |
|
Cavan |
< 2 years |
10 |
|
Clare |
< 2 years |
22 |
|
Cork |
< 2 years |
13 |
|
Donegal |
< 2 years |
45 |
|
Dublin |
< 2 years |
133 |
|
Galway |
< 2 years |
12 |
|
Kildare |
< 2 years |
12 |
|
Kilkenny |
< 2 years |
10 |
|
Leitrim |
< 2 years |
11 |
|
Limerick |
< 2 years |
43 |
|
Longford |
< 2 years |
10 |
|
Louth |
< 2 years |
9 |
|
Mayo |
< 2 years |
14 |
|
Meath |
< 2 years |
20 |
|
Offaly |
< 2 years |
6 |
|
Roscommon |
< 2 years |
10 |
|
Sligo |
< 2 years |
26 |
|
Small Volume Areas |
< 2 years |
13 |
|
Tipperary |
< 2 years |
31 |
|
Waterford |
< 2 years |
25 |
|
Westmeath |
< 2 years |
10 |
|
Wexford |
< 2 years |
24 |
|
Wicklow |
< 2 years |
14 |
|
Carlow |
< 3 years |
5 |
|
Dublin |
< 3 years |
20 |
|
Limerick |
< 3 years |
9 |
|
Mayo |
< 3 years |
5 |
|
Sligo |
< 3 years |
6 |
|
Small Volume Areas |
< 3 years |
26 |
|
Tipperary |
< 3 years |
11 |
|
Waterford |
< 3 years |
13 |
|
Wexford |
< 3 years |
18 |
|
Small Volume Areas |
3+ years |
17 |
