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

I assure the Deputy that the engagement between the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital and the NTPF provides a clear example of positive impacts. Such collaboration can only have a real effect on waiting lists, and, ultimately, benefit all the patients that are receiving treatment. However, if the Deputy will give me the details of the particular case she has raised, I will certainly bring them to the attention of the Minister and see what can be done.

Some 37,863 people attended the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital according to the outpatient attendance list. Out of that, 3,494 patients did not show up for appointments. That shows how difficult it sometimes is to reach patients and get them in for appointments. That is a clear indication that we do have high numbers, and nobody is disagreeing with the Deputy on that. I will now read a note I was handed in the past few minutes. Last year, there were 34 patients in the hospital who had been waiting between 24 and 36 months. That number is down to five this year. Those are the latest figures. Last year, 290 patients had been waiting between 18 and 24 months and that figure has decreased to nine.

I will bring all of the Deputy's concerns back to the Minister. I assure her that representing the same constituency, I, like her, am very concerned about the number of people who come to our clinics and have difficulty in having cataracts removed. It is surgery that is now regarded as a much more simple procedure than it was in the past. I will certainly bring the Deputy's concerns, which I have written down, to the attention of the Minister. Again, I ask her to forward this man's details to me. I did not get his second name.

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