James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I assure the Deputy that it is the Government's priority to ensure waiting lists are tackled, and we have prioritised action in this area in a very logical fashion. The most acutely suffering patients are those awaiting treatment in emergency departments, a situation that is being tackled by the special delivery unit. I am pleased to report that the first five months of this year saw a 20% reduction in the number of patients on trolleys in emergency departments. There are still far too many in that situation, however, and a great deal of work remains to be done. Several clinical programmes will be implemented to address the problem, including the intermediate care programme which will ensure, in the first instance, that older people are admitted to a specialist ward and their acute medical care needs are addressed. Rehabilitation will commence immediately on the ward for such patients and, where it has to be prolonged beyond a week, they will be moved to an intermediate care facility for six to ten weeks. If, following a careful assessment which rules out the feasibility of a home care package, they are found to require long-term care, they will be accommodated in a transitional facility until their preferred long-term position is available.

To sum up, unscheduled care was the first priority of the Government on assuming office, and we are now moving to address problems in the area of scheduled care. Every hospital in the country, apart from Galway and another facility in the west, met its target of ensuring patients are waiting not longer than 12 months for an appointment. We have only recently begun, for the first time, to get the figures for outpatients. These are not complete figures, although we hope such will start to become available from the end of next month. I have no problem with people knowing the full extent and truth of the situation. The end figure may be 200,000, or it might even be greater. To put that in context, 200,000 people are seen every month at outpatient facilities throughout the country. I am very pleased Deputy Halligan agrees with me that those waiting longest should be treated first, once the urgent cases have been dealt with. It is not fair that people are left waiting years for treatment. We never had a handle on outpatient figures before this Government came into office but we are getting a handle on them now and are determined to address the problems in this area.

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