David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

None of that answers my question because we need capacity. In regard to cardiology wait times in 2016, some 16,806 patients were on waiting lists, while in 2020, the figure was 27,000, a considerable increase. In 2016, some 1,875 people had been waiting 18 months, whereas the figure is now 7,963. I have dealt with a number of other cases that I will put to Mr. Woods. An elderly woman has been waiting to see a pain specialist for more than two years. The numbers waiting to see a pain specialist have increased sharply. The number waiting for pain relief this year is 12,289, while 4,000 patients have been waiting more than 18 months to see a pain specialist.

The number of children undergoing procedures for the treatment of scoliosis has dropped by 29% and the number of oncology procedures has also dropped by 29%. My point, therefore, is that despite all the spin and the rhetoric about all of the additional beds and staff, year-on-year, inpatient and outpatient waiting times are rising. Children with scoliosis are still awaiting much longer than they were in previous years for treatment; people are waiting on pain relief across all the specialties; and inpatient and outpatient waiting times are on the increase. There does not seem to be a plan. Given that those figures are not good, as Mr. Woods said, and they are going in the wrong direction, what action is going to be taken and how can we reduce those waiting times? We are told that with Sláintecare, people should not be waiting any longer than 12 weeks and yet we have hundreds of thousands of patients waiting more than 18 months simply to get into the system and to see a consultant. Can the HSE explain how those waiting times are going to come down over the next number of years?