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

In January, I put in place maximum permissible waiting times for inpatient and day case treatment and outpatient appointments of 18 months by the end of June and 15 months by the year's end. I refer to routine appointments, not urgent or emergency appointments. It was always made clear that, for some specialities, this would not be possible due to a lack of capacity in both the public and private sectors.

The HSE was provided with additional funding of €51 million to ensure these maximum waiting times are achieved. The funding provided is intended to maximise capacity across public and voluntary hospitals as well as outsourcing activity where the capacity is not available to meet patient needs within the maximum allowable waiting time. In June, the HSE reported performances against the 18-month maximum waiting time of 99.6% for inpatient and day cases and 92% for outpatients.

Concerted efforts have been made to reduce outpatient waiting lists by facilitating additional clinics outside conventional working hours and outsourcing where capacity is limited. The success of this approach is evident with the reduction of over 4,300 in the overall outpatient waiting lists in the six weeks to the end of September. An example of the volume of the ongoing work is that over 58,000 outpatient appointments are being provided in the next six weeks. Approximately 4,620 outpatient appointments are being provided by mid-November, specifically for those waiting 15 months and over. During that same period, almost 20,250 patients from the waiting lists will undergo an inpatient or day case procedure or scope under the initiative.

As of 30 September 2015, there has been a reduction of 11,671 in the number waiting more than 18 months for an outpatient appointment. Addressing the longest waiting periods for treatment is a key performance objective for the remainder of 2015.

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