Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I thank Deputy Naughten for raising this very important issue. I also thank the Deputy for the research that he has commissioned. It is an interesting analysis, maybe I would suggest a preliminary analysis, in respect of long Covid that certainly will be part and parcel of the health service for quite some time to come and will be a significant challenge for clinicians for some time to come. It needs to be monitored. Steps are being taken also, from a research perspective, to analyse and monitor this rigorously to make sure that we can look after people and also see the more medium to long-term impacts of Covid-19 on a certain cohort of people.

In respect of waiting lists more generally, they were too long before Covid-19. That is the first point. The base was high coming into Covid-19. They have got worse because of Covid-1 and the two lockdowns in particular - the first lockdown in 2020 and the second lockdown because of the Alpha variant in 2021. The short-term plan in the autumn worked well - it reduced waiting lists by approximately 6% - but, unfortunately, then we had the restrictions coming into the end of December and January where the health service and hospitals were told to focus almost exclusively on Covid and the Omicron issue.

The Minister will shortly be announcing and bringing to Government a waiting list initiative for 2022, but coupled with that a multi-annual waiting list initiative in terms of getting those waiting times and the numbers on the lists significantly down from outpatient to inpatient to day case, including, of course, diagnostics etc. That needs a comprehensive plan. The overall sum of money is approximately €350 million. That will be made available in 2022 to deal with the waiting lists, including, obviously, the public health system, the National Treatment Purchase Fund and the utilisation of private sector capacity in an all-out effort to get these lists significantly down. Emerging from Covid, this is a key target and challenge.

The Deputy is correct also to identify room for efficiencies, particularly the utilisation of equipment and facilities over the weekend period etc. Every available opportunity to do that will be taken in the context of this plan. The task force is jointly chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Health with the chief executive officer of the HSE, and with the senior HSE team on that task force as well with other key officials to make sure that there is a relentless focus on getting the waiting times and the waiting lists down because it is important in terms of people's individual health and the overall health of the country.

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