Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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410. To ask the Minister for Health the number of outpatient appointments outstanding for more than two, three and four years, respectively, at the end of November 2019, by each reporting hospital in tabular form. [53000/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Reducing waiting time for patients for hospital operations and procedures is a key priority for Government. In this regard, the Government is committed to improving waiting times for hospital appointments and procedures.

Budget 2020 announced that the Government has further increased investment in tackling waiting lists, with funding to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) increasing from €75 million in 2019 to €100 million in 2020.

My Department is working with the HSE and NTPF to develop the Scheduled Care Access Plan 2020. The National Service Plan 2020 will set out HSE planned activity level for the year ahead, while the NTPF will work with the hospital system to provide additionality to improve access to inpatient/daycase treatment and with a particular focus on hospital outpatient services.

In this regard, I would encourage all hospital groups and individual hospitals to engage with the NTPF to identify waiting list proposals for the remainder of this year and for 2020. 

The data requested by the Deputy is outlined in the attached documents. This information is also available on the NTPF website at: https://www.ntpf.ie/home/nwld.htm 

Waiting List Figures as at 28/11/2019, Published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund on 13th December 2019

Over Two Years

*Due to the small volume of patients waiting in certain hospitals, to preserve patient confidentiality, when the amount of patients is <5, these have been aggregated into a 'Small Volume Hospitals' cohort.

Over 3 Years

*Due to the small volume of patients waiting in certain hospitals, to preserve patient confidentiality, when the amount of patients is <5, these have been aggregated into a 'Small Volume Hospitals' cohort.

Over Four Years.

*Due to the small volume of patients waiting in certain hospitals, to preserve patient confidentiality, when the amount of patients is <5, these have been aggregated into a 'Small Volume Hospitals' cohort.