Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which the Department and Minister have developed a plan to address. I checked the figures this morning. Just over 11,000 people are on the inpatient waiting list for cataract or ophthalmological surgery, with 75% of those seen within nine months. The Minister's plan is to eliminate waiting times of over nine months. To do that, he will use the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, which has been assigned €55 million this year. I understand that 5,000 cataract cases will be included in its programme for this year. That is significantly more than the number of people waiting longer than nine months. This matter is a high priority for the Government.

Large numbers of people are on the outpatient waiting list, but a target has been set for 80% of patients to receive an appointment within a 52-week period. There will be a joint initiative by the NTPF and the HSE to address that issue.

I am not aware of the strengths of the Sligo model, but I will ask the Minister to take heed of it as he rolls out this plan. If there are procedures that can accelerate access to care in a field where, as the Deputy rightly stated, any time lost is critical, the Minister will consider them. Significant emphasis is placed on this issue in the Government's plan and the Minister is confident that the targets will be delivered on this year-----

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