Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Before I respond, I welcome to the Gallery the girls and boys from sixth class in the Harold School.

When I made that comment, I was not referring to Sinn Féin, although I stand to be corrected. We all focus on the total number of people on waiting lists but my point, which I imagine the Deputy will agree with, was that the number that matters is the number of people who have been waiting for too long. The example I gave was that if 2 million people had been referred for care but were waiting a matter of days, that would be a healthy, well-performing healthcare system. What we have to look at is the number of people who have been waiting for too long.

I might outline for the Deputy some numbers I received just last night. The focus of the waiting list action plan, in the first instance, is to provide care for patients who we all know are waiting too long. In the year to date, the outpatient waiting list - we are starting with those who have been waiting for more than 18 months - has fallen by 23% and is continuing to fall. Over the past four weeks, a further almost 7,000 patients were taken off the outpatient list. It is now at its lowest level this year, which I am sure the Deputy, like me, will welcome. In terms of inpatients who have been waiting for more than 12 months, the numbers so far this year have fallen by 14%. Obviously, we have a long way to go but that is very good to see, not least in the middle of a pandemic. The most impressive figure relates to those awaiting a scope for more than 12 months. That number has fallen this year by 74%.

Of course, a lot more needs to be done. The waiting list action plan for this year is year one of a multiyear approach to this. The National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, has taken on a very ambitious programme of providing care for patients waiting for inpatient care for 15 high-volume procedures. Those who have been waiting for more than six months will have their care arranged. More than 80% of those patients have been contacted and have care authorised. I am delighted to say the NTPF is now looking at moving the wait time from six months to five and increasing the number of high-volume procedures from 15 to 20.

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