Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Health and I thank the Deputy for raising it. Improving waiting times for hospital procedures is a key commitment in the programme for Government and a number of waiting list initiatives are currently under way to improve access this year. In particular, I refer to the inpatient and day case action plan which was launched in April 2018, and the allocation of €50 million to the NTPF in budget 2018 to secure treatment for patients and reduce waiting times. The action plan targets a reduction in the waiting list for inpatient and day case treatment to less than 70,000 by the end of 2018. Under the plan, the HSE will deliver 1.14 million hospital procedures.

The NTPF will deliver additionality to the health system with the provision of 22,000 inpatient day case treatments, including 5,000 cataract procedures and 1,200 tonsillectomies. The action plan has been developed to ensure an appropriate balance between high-volume activities and offering treatment to complex long-waiting patients, as well as maximising the number of patients treated in both public and private capacities.

Over the past year the Department of Health has worked with the HSE and the NTPF to identify sustainable initiatives to improve waiting times. Last year, funding was allocated to provide additional capacity at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, which has augmented capacity to increase clinics focused on paediatric and adult ear, nose and throat, ENT, procedures. The NTPF funding has also allowed the hospital's cataract theatre to be operational three days per week. The impact of these initiatives is clear. To date this year, the hospital has seen significant reductions in waiting lists for cataracts and waiting times reduced to six months. It is expected that the hospital and the NTPF will continue to work together to maintain and even improve on these waiting times. Overall, the inpatient and day case waiting lists for the end of June show that waiting times at the hospital have fallen by almost one quarter in the past year.

The Children's Hospital Group is also working with Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital to determine the feasibility of the hospital providing additional services across both outpatient and surgical services over the next year in order to reduce waiting times for children.

The Minister for Health has long said that the outpatient waiting list is a challenge which must be addressed. The HSE is working with the NTPF and the Department to finalise a joint plan focused on improving overall use of resources to tackle long patient waiting times and ensure timely access to treatment care for patients. The Minister hopes to publish this plan shortly. As part of this process, the NTPF and the HSE are currently reviewing proposals from hospitals for outpatient initiatives. I am aware that the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital is developing a proposal to address the new patients' ENT outpatient department waiting list. The Minister encourages all hospitals to submit proposals as soon as possible.

I will deal with some of the issues that were raised by Deputy Smith in my supplementary remarks.

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