Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Buckley very much for sharing that story in the Chamber. In our constituencies we come across families who face these challenges and it is absolutely heartbreaking for the entire family, entire community but, first and foremost, for the patient at the centre of it. I know the Deputy will continue to make the case for that individual, as he has been doing as a local representative.

Regarding waiting times for orthopaedic surgery patients in Cork East, this feeds into the overall national change that sees that for the second year in a row, national hospital waiting times and waiting lists actually fell. On the core Sláintecare wait time target, an 11% reduction was achieved along with a 3% reduction in overall waiting lists. The target of removing approximately 1.66 million patients from waiting lists in 2023 was exceeded by 5%, with around 1.74 million patients removed. However, higher than anticipated additions to the waiting lists impacted on the total waiting list figures, offsetting much of the progress achieved.

With regard to the number of patients waiting in Cork hospitals for an orthopaedic inpatient or day-case procedure, the most recent figures published by the NTPF for the end of December 2023 indicate there are 311 patients waiting for such a procedure at Cork University Hospital and South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital. This current figure represents a slight decrease of 2% in the number of patients waiting since the end of December 2022.

Some 54%, or 168 patients, are currently waiting outside the 12-week Sláintecare target for an inpatient or day-case procedure. This Government’s commitment to both of these hospitals can be seen in the increased resources assigned to meet the needs of patients. The budget for CUH has increased by 42% since 2019, and the budget for the South Infirmary has increased by 24% in the same period. In addition, there were significant increases in staffing in the same period, with the staffing complement in CUH and SIVUH increasing by 30% and 35%, respectively.

The National Treatment Purchase Fund continues to work with hospitals throughout the country to offer and provide the funding for treatment to clinically suitable long-waiting patients who are on an inpatient, day-case or outpatient waiting list. The key criterion of the National Treatment Purchase Fund is the prioritisation of the longest waiting patients first, identifying patients eligible for NTPF treatment solely on the basis of their time spent on a waiting list. It should be noted that the decision to outsource a patient, the suitability of patients to be outsourced for such treatments and the prioritisation of patients for treatment remains the decision of the referring hospital and its clinical decision-makers.

To build on the progress achieved to date, funding totalling €407 million is being allocated this year to tackle waiting lists, with €332 million of this allocated to the 2024 waiting list action plan and the remaining €75 million targeted at various measures to alleviate community and primary care waiting lists. The funding will encompass core HSE activity, additionality provided through both the NTPF and the HSE, as well as progressing new service developments to further reform elective care.

That is of cold comfort to the family and the patient on whose behalf the Deputy is speaking. However, those are the statistics provided to me here this evening by the Ministry for Health. Individual cases are always difficult. There are always anomalies and many different issues need to be gone through. The Deputy is making representations on behalf of a patient, her family and the people of Cork East more generally. I will happily do anything I can to work with the Deputy and with the Minister to help them.

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