Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Improving waiting lists for scheduled care is a key priority for me and the Government. Taking into account current pressures on acute hospital services, I have put in place a target that by mid-year nobody will wait more than 18 months for inpatient or day case treatment or an outpatient appointment, with a further reduction to a waiting time of no more than 15 months by year end. The existing targets are that no adult should have to wait longer than eight months and that no child should have to wait longer than 20 weeks for inpatient or day case treatment and that no patient should have to wait longer than 12 months for an outpatient appointment. However, these targets have not been met for many years. In order to bring about an improvement, I am starting with the longest waiters to reduce progressively the period beyond which nobody will wait. This is a realistic approach to achieving a much needed improvement, even while recognising that waiting times are considerably longer than international standards.

The HSE is working on an implementation plan to achieve these targets. This will involve both productivity improvements and rigorous waiting list management. Further increasing day surgery rates for specific procedures will be important in improving elective access within available capacity. Priority will be given to adherence to the guidelines on the scheduling of patients for surgery, including chronological scheduling, which will be monitored by the HSE throughout the year.

I do not believe there is any massaging of figures. If anything, I expect that there is quite a lot of double-counting on waiting lists and quite a number of people who have been referred to three consultants for the same thing or who have already received treatment privately but still appear on a waiting list.

If anything, the numbers are probably higher than the figures suggests.

One area that is not counted is the number of people waiting for diagnostics. Deputy Kelleher is correct in that sense. This is because the figures were not accurate. However, once the figures are accurate the HSE will start publishing them again.

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