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

I totally concur with the Deputy. We have a plan and the money. Now we need business management and skill sets. We need to hold the service to account and it needs to be monitored on a monthly basis. My assessment of needs is a clear demonstration of how I secured funding to clear a backlog. This was done monthly by the managers of the various disciplines in community healthcare organisations, CHOs, around country and we have driven down the backlog by 78% in eight months. That is exactly what the Deputy is talking about, namely, ensuring that the leads in the various CHOs are held to account. The Minister is responsible for bringing them to order on a monthly basis to see exactly how we are prioritising. It is not determined that we are in a crisis on the basis that a waiting time has reached nine months. It is done on the basis of advance planning under which managers must manage in a business-like format. I completely concur with the Deputy on that point.

On the NTPF, the work of the HSE to improve access to elective care and reduce waiting times for hospital appointments and procedures is supported by the NTPF. This includes increased use of private hospitals funding; weekend and evening work in public hospitals; funding see-and-treat services where minor procedures are provided at the same time as outpatient consultations; funding hybrid services for public and private hospitals which contribute to the treatment of patients; virtual clinics; and clinical validation. The additional €240 million provided in budget 2021 will positively impact waiting times for patients waiting for acute hospital appointments and procedures. In this context, the Department of Health, with the HSE and the NTPF, is working on drafting a Sláintecare multiannual waiting list plan to address backlogs in waiting lists and bring waiting times in line with Sláintecare targets over the coming years.

A new community model is in place for older persons and community care. Under the integrated progressing disability services for children and young people, people access services on the basis that there is only one waiting list once they are inside the front door.

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