Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 September 2023
44. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the extent to which ongoing measures are taking place to deal with the issue of waiting lists in all hospitals throughout the country in respect of all procedures; if steps have been taken to fill the various vacant posts which might facilitate this work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40701/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra278. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the degree to which ongoing emphasis is placed on the need to reduce hospital waiting lists throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40916/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra282. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the degree to which he and his Department continue to evaluate the needs of patients seeking various treatments such as cardiology, oncology, endoscopy, urology and neurology treatments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40920/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra283. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the efforts that continue to be made to review the most acute hospital waiting lists throughout the country on a regular basis, in order to target those areas particularly affected by long waiting lists/delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40921/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 44, 278, 282 and 283 together.
It is recognised that waiting times for many scheduled appointments and procedures were too long before and have been made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Department of Health continues to work with the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to identify ways to improve access to care.
On the 7th of March, the Minister for Health published the 2023 Waiting List Action Plan, which is the latest stage of a multi-annual approach to sustainably reduce and reform hospital waiting lists.
The 2023 plan builds on the foundational work done through the short-term Waiting List Action Plan between September and December 2021, and the Waiting List Action Plan for 2022, both of which reversed the annual trend of rising waiting lists.
The 2023 Plan sets out the priorities to continue to address waiting lists this year – in particular for the priority areas of Gynaecology, Paediatric Orthopaedics (Spina Bifida/Scoliosis) and Obesity/Bariatrics. The thirty actions in the Plan, which are governed by the Waiting List Task Force, focus on delivering capacity, reforming scheduled care and enabling scheduled care reform.
For 2023, funding totaling €443 million is being allocated to tackle Waiting Lists with €363 million of this being allocated to the 2023 Waiting List Action Plan, to implement longer term reforms and provide additional public and private activity to clear backlogs exacerbated during the pandemic.
The €363 million is targeted at reducing hospital waiting lists by 10% in 2023 as well as continuing to significantly reduce waiting times toward the Sláintecare recommended wait times, (10 weeks for new outpatient appointments and 12 weeks for procedures). The remaining €80 million of the €443 million is being targeted at various measures to alleviate community/primary care waiting lists.
In July (latest available figures) the total workforce stands at 141,723 WTE. There are 21,910 more WTE working in our health service than there were at the beginning of 2020. This includes 6,563 nurses and midwives; 3,141 health and social care professionals; and 2,189 doctors and dentists.
We are clearly making progress. At the end of August, the number of patients waiting over the Sláintecare targets have fallen by 21% since the pandemic peaks. We now have 497,963 people on the Active Waiting Lists (inpatient / day case, GI Scopes and outpatients) waiting longer than the Sláintecare maximum wait times, broken down as follows:
• 51,121 people are currently exceeding the 12-week inpatient / day case (IPDC) target.
• 10,697 people are exceeding the 12-week GI Scope target.
• 436,145 people are exceeding the 10-week outpatient (OPD) target.
• With this ambitious 2023 Waiting List Action Plan, the Department of Health, the HSE and the NTPF are taking the next steps in the multi-annual approach towards achieving the vision of a world-class public healthcare system in which everyone has timely and transparent access to high-quality scheduled care, where and when they need it, in line with Sláintecare reforms.
