Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
1413. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Health the number of public patients that have been removed from outpatient lists in 2024 as a result of a validation exercise and not as a result of having an appointment with a consultant for each public and voluntary hospital, in tabular form. [14478/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraPeriodic validation forms an essential part of best practice in relation to the management of hospital waiting lists.
Validation is a process whereby hospital administration contacts patients on waiting lists at pre-planned intervals to ensure that patients are ready, willing, suitable and available to attend a hospital appointment or if they wish to be removed from the waiting list.
For a number of years validation was conducted at individual hospital level in Ireland but in 2018, the Minister for Health approved the establishment of a validation function within the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF). The establishment of a centralised function has facilitated the introduction of a standardised approach to validation of waiting lists across all hospitals and across Inpatient Day Case and Outpatient waiting lists.
In relation to the data requested by the Deputy, the NTPF has provided the figures in the attached table which outlines the number of patients removed from outpatient waiting lists by hospital this year up to the end of March.
