Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When I spoke about hospital waiting lists in the Dáil in 2018 they were the longest on record with 707,000 patients waiting for treatment. Deputy Harris was the Minister for Health then. He stated that reduced waiting times for patients was a key priority for himself and the Government. He gave reasons the lists were so long and outlined a series of measures to reduce them over time. However, four years later there are 879,000 individuals on waiting lists of which 96,000 are children. Some 40,600 were added to the hospital waiting lists in the past year. Throughout 2021, 114 people were added to hospital waiting lists each day. Some public hospitals had 100% increases in outpatient and inpatient waiting lists. This was despite the fact that one in five hospital consultant posts remain vacant or are filled on a temporary basis according to the Irish Hospital Consultants Association.

Tá an rud seo ag cur brú mór ar an gcóras sláinte. Many patients have also had their appointments cancelled. Those left waiting long periods for treatment are often left in pain as their conditions get worse. Their well-being and mental health deteriorates with the stress of not knowing when they will have their appointment and receive care. The Euro Health Consumer Index, EHCI, questions why some countries have no or minimal waiting lists in healthcare. They have achieved their goal by introducing an integrated national real time e-referral system. The EHCI asks an important question, that is, if countries with limited means can achieve a virtual absence of waiting lists, what excuse can there be for countries such as Ireland to keep having waiting list problems. In my constituency work in Dublin North-West I have found many cases of people being effectively turned away from hospitals because of a lack of bed capacity or as a consequence of a lack of hospital resources, particularly around staffing. This has been exacerbated during the pandemic. Last year, the Government committed itself to implementing a monthly annual plan to reduce waiting lists in hospitals. Where are we with this? When will we see the results of this commitment?

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