John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the Minister's reply. We are in real danger of getting lost in statistics, but I welcome the figures and particularly the announcement concerning the National Treatment Purchase Fund. The Minister will accept that there were 4,415 were on the inpatient day case list for Tallaght Hospital in October. He will also accept that it was an increase of 1,732 or a whopping almost 65% - there is another statistic - in two and a half years. It is unacceptably high. Of these, over 350 have been waiting for more than 18 months and 612 are waiting a year to 18 months. Let us stop with the statistics for a moment, because the Minister will pile on the narrative in terms of the money and how many millions or thousands of euro he is putting into it and obviously the Opposition spokespeople will focus on the numbers. However, if we take it to an individual level, what does the Minister say to somebody who has been waiting 18 months, and is still waiting, for a treatment? In particular, will he make some type of connection between their wait and the role of the National Treatment Purchase Fund?

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