James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The draft HSE July performance report was received in my Department on 7 September. The figure reported therein of 339,441 patients waiting for an outpatient appointment is not new. The HSE's May performance report indicated that 342,665 patients were waiting for outpatient appointments, while the June report showed that 361,000 were waiting for appointments. Representatives from the SDU held a media briefing for health correspondents on 21 June, at which they outlined the new approach to the collection of outpatient waiting time data. They also indicated that, when up and running, the new system would be likely to show approximately 350,000 patients waiting for appointments. This is broadly in line with the figures being reported by the HSE.

While the figures are unacceptably high, it is important to emphasise that the reported increase since April is not due to a sudden large increase in the numbers waiting but rather to more accurate data which present a more comprehensive picture of the problem. The problem of outpatient waiting lists is not new. What has changed is the level of information we are collecting and putting into the public domain on these lists. Under the previous Government, the scale of outpatient waiting lists was not measured. I am quite prepared to state we do not have a definitive figure in this regard. The final figure may be in and around the 360,000 mark.

The is the first time the position has been measured and from now on it is going to be monitored on a weekly basis. As is the case with the inpatient waiting list, those who have been waiting longest will be seen first. It is utterly disgraceful and unacceptable that some 16,000 people have been waiting more than four years for appointments. I have given an undertaking - this is not detailed in my written reply - to the effect that by the end of next year, no one will be obliged to wait more than one year for an outpatient appointment. I will do everything in my power to make this happen.

Together with the National Treatment Purchase Fund, the special delivery unit in my Department will shortly begin the systematic collection of waiting time data at an individual patient level in a standardised format from all hospitals providing a consultant-led hospital outpatient service. Also, it will shortly assume responsibility for the reporting of outpatient waiting time data from the HSE

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