Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Bruton for raising this issue, on which I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly.

It is recognised that the waiting times for hospital appointments, procedures and services have been impacted in the past year by Covid-19. On 23 March last, the HSE published A Safe Return to Health Services plan. The plan outlined a three-phase approach for the proposed restoration of services across community services, acute hospital operations, cancer services and screening services. It sets target times for the safe return and details the conditions and challenges that will have to be met. Every phase in the plan has been informed by clinical guidance, putting patient and staff safety first.

A key action of this Government is to address the backlog in the demand for services that may have arisen across all healthcare settings since the onset of the pandemic. Budget 2021 included central commitments to provide funding to improve access to services and reduce the number of people waiting for important appointments and procedures. Hospital inpatient day case, IPDC, waiting lists reached a peak in May 2020 due to the deferral of elective care. However, as a result of modified pathways to care and utilising innovative methods of providing scheduled care, the growth trend in the IPDC waiting list was reversed and the number waiting for a hospital appointment procedure dropped by 8% from the end of May 2022 to the end of March 2021.

Some €240 million has been provided in budget 2021 to improve access to care for acute hospital procedures, €210 million of which has been allocated to the HSE and a further €30 million to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. This will be used to fund additional capacity to address the shortfall arising as a result of the measures taken in the context of Covid-19 as well as to address hospital waiting lists.

The Department of Health and the HSE continue to plan for any surge in demand for mental health services. Launched in January, the HSE psychological response to the Covid-19 pandemic provides a clear framework to build on existing psychological support to the public and healthcare workers with a co-ordinated, consistent and collaborative approach to the mental health services. An additional €2.2 million was allocated in 2020 to develop telehealth and the psychological response to Covid-19 for healthcare workers and the general public.

As part of budget 2021, an additional €50 million funding was secured for mental health, bringing the annual budget to in excess of €1 billion. Of the additional €50 million, €23 million is allocated to the implementation of many of Sharing the Vision’s short-term recommendations and €15 million to address the additional challenges posed by Covid-19.

In response to the challenges faced in primary care, the Department of Health secured €150 million in funding for an enhanced community care programme in budget 2021. This represents an unprecedented investment in our primary sector that will see the establishment of community health networks and specialist teams to serve older persons and those with chronic disease, as well as other initiatives such as the nationwide expansion of the community intervention teams. A focus of the enhanced community care programme is on the recruitment of front-line staff, particularly nurses and community therapists, to build capacity in the sector to help address waiting lists and backlogs in appointments, while helping to ensure the primary care sector is sustainable over the long term.

On cancer care services, the national action plan on Covid-19 identified the continued provision of cancer care as a priority. Cancer services continue to operate in line with guidance issued by the HSE’s national cancer control programme. Funding of €12 million has been allocated this year for the restoration of cancer services to 95% of the 2019 pre-Covid levels. This funding will support hospitals in addressing the backlog.

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