Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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12. To ask the Minister for Health the reasons his targets for waiting lists have not been met; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36662/15]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister for Health the reasons his targets for waiting lists have not been met and whether he will make a statement on the matter.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In January, I put in place maximum permissible waiting times for inpatient and day case treatment and outpatient appointments of 18 months by the end of June and 15 months by the year's end. I refer to routine appointments, not urgent or emergency appointments. It was always made clear that, for some specialities, this would not be possible due to a lack of capacity in both the public and private sectors.

The HSE was provided with additional funding of €51 million to ensure these maximum waiting times are achieved. The funding provided is intended to maximise capacity across public and voluntary hospitals as well as outsourcing activity where the capacity is not available to meet patient needs within the maximum allowable waiting time. In June, the HSE reported performances against the 18-month maximum waiting time of 99.6% for inpatient and day cases and 92% for outpatients.

Concerted efforts have been made to reduce outpatient waiting lists by facilitating additional clinics outside conventional working hours and outsourcing where capacity is limited. The success of this approach is evident with the reduction of over 4,300 in the overall outpatient waiting lists in the six weeks to the end of September. An example of the volume of the ongoing work is that over 58,000 outpatient appointments are being provided in the next six weeks. Approximately 4,620 outpatient appointments are being provided by mid-November, specifically for those waiting 15 months and over. During that same period, almost 20,250 patients from the waiting lists will undergo an inpatient or day case procedure or scope under the initiative.

As of 30 September 2015, there has been a reduction of 11,671 in the number waiting more than 18 months for an outpatient appointment. Addressing the longest waiting periods for treatment is a key performance objective for the remainder of 2015.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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At the start of 2015, the Minister abandoned his predecessor's targets of a maximum waiting time of 18 months for inpatient day case appointments and one year for outpatient appointments. There is no point in pretending in this Chamber that circumstances have improved. The Minister has moved the goalposts and has set diminishing expectations. Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectationscomes to mind. If it were about the Minister's tenure, it would be called Diminishing Expectations. Creating diminishing expectations is what the Minister has been doing consistently. Every target set by his predecessor has been moved to make it look better but the bottom line is that people are still waiting for inordinate periods. For the Minister to applaud himself for moving the goalposts and deeming it acceptable for people to have to wait 15 months or 18 months for various appointments is simply not credible any more. The statistics show that 64,985 people are waiting for more than a year for an appointment and that 4,476 of these are for the National Children's Hospital. Behind the Minister's statistics are individuals who are waiting for inordinate periods. While the Minister is saying the statistics do not include emergency appointments, he should realise each case is an emergency for the individual concerned. The patients would at least like a timely appointment with the consultant in terms of diagnostics.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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No targets have been abandoned.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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A change from eight months to 18 months is an abandonment of targets.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Every month, the authorities report waiting times based on three-month intervals, making reference to those waiting for fewer than three months, those waiting for between three and six months, those waiting between six and nine months, and those waiting for between nine and 12 months or more. All the figures are very transparent for anybody who wants to see them. We have been very clear from day one that there would be difficulties in some subspecialties where there are no consultants or where there is no capacity. However, even if one leaves aside any targets or maxima, one notes the number of people waiting for an outpatient appointment, for example, is down by 5,776 since the start of the year. We will continue to invest additional resources so we can continue to lower the figures.