Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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6. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to reduce gynaecology waiting times in Cork University Hospital. [20992/16]

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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People in Cork are enduring the longest and slowest waiting list for gynaecological services at Cork University Maternity Hospital and this needs to be dealt with. Currently there are 3,858 people on the outpatient list, which is double the size of the list anywhere else in the country. Some 1,213 are waiting over a year and of those 371 are waiting for over a year and a half, which is almost as high as every other list combined. There is clearly a Cork problem that needs to be dealt with in the interests of these women.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. I understand from data provided by the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, that at the end of June 2016 some 3,859 patients were waiting for gynaecology outpatient appointments and 458 were waiting for inpatient or day case gynaecology procedures at Cork University Hospital. While these figures represent a welcome reduction on figures at the end of June 2015, there is a need to address the issue of waiting lists in a much more focused manner.

The Deputy will appreciate that ensuring timely access to health services is a key challenge and concerted efforts are and will continue to be made to improve the current situation. My Department is engaging with the HSE in regard to the development of an action plan for each hospital in order to address waiting times. Individual hospitals will be required to develop process improvement plans which will focus on improving chronological scheduling, validating waiting lists and ensuring that existing capacity is optimised and maximised, although I am not sure it always is, to be frank. The action plan will be implemented over the remainder of 2016. Within the HSE, a scheduled care governance group has been established to co-ordinate key initiatives in order to reduce waiting times and the number of patients awaiting treatment.

Given it is an issue his party feels strongly about, I draw the attention of the Deputy to A Programme for a Partnership Government, which commits to a minimum of €15 million in funding for the NTPF in 2017 to address waiting lists for those waiting longest, as part of a continued investment of a minimum of €50 million per year to reduce waiting times. My Department is currently engaging with the NTPF and the HSE to deliver on the programme's waiting list commitments. In fact, I met with the CEO and chairman of the NTPF in the last two to three weeks to put them on notice that they are very much being reactivated. I told them they should expect to receive a minimum of €15 million in budget 2017 in order to get on and do what they were doing - a very good job of in terms of clearing waiting lists - and I asked their views in addition to the views of the HSE and the Department of Health in regard to how best to maximise the €50 million that will become available for waiting list initiatives. I will look into the specific issues raised by the Deputy.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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While these people are waiting on this massive list, it is seriously impacting their quality of life and is very distressing. The Minister referred to the NTPF, for which €15 million will be put in place in 2017. This is 2016. Since the beginning of the year, the number of people in Cork who are waiting over a year and a half for surgery has grown from zero to 39. By the time the NTPF has come into place, that number will have grown again and perhaps even doubled.

Has the Minister considered appointing additional consultants, given none has been appointed in the south-south west hospital group since this hospital was established seven years ago? In fact, in spite of the fact that 28 posts are advertised in the remainder of the country, the place with the largest waiting list and the most distressed women is left with no additional consultants. Has the Minister considered the possibility of using the under-used theatres that are available, given four were built and only one is being used for gynaecological services, while another is vacant? This needs to be dealt with in the interests of these highly distressed people, their families and those around them.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy and take his point. It is cold comfort to people on waiting lists today to hear that the waiting list for this very procedure has fallen significantly in that hospital, given 4,622 people were waiting for this outpatient procedure in Cork University Hospital in June of last year and this is now down to 3,859. The figure is still much too high but it is a reduction, and I acknowledge the work being done by the hospital in that regard.

What people do not want from the Minister for Health is tea and sympathy; what they want from me is action. I have taken action and, in particular, I have taken four actions in regard to waiting lists. First, I have secured an additional €500 million for the health service, the overwhelming bulk of which will go to our acute hospitals, which will enable hospital managers in hospitals such as Cork University Hospital to do what they are well paid to do, which is to get on and manage and to do some of the things the Deputy is asking that they do. Second, I have put in place a small endoscopy initiative this year with the remaining funds available to the NTPF, which is something we can do now. Third, I have put the NTPF on notice that it is going to receive a minimum of €15 million in the budget in October. Fourth, we have a commitment in the programme for Government for at least €50 million for dedicated waiting list initiatives. I agree we have to tackle this but I must be realistic in terms of what can be done.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for the outline of the actions he is taking. In the meantime, there needs to be a clear path for these highly distressed people who are languishing on waiting lists for far too long. What the Minister has outlined is helpful. However, is there some way of advancing the NTPF so that people will be able to enjoy the benefit of it this year and get off the waiting list?

With regard to consultants, unlike every other part of the country, the south and south-west, where the largest and most distressed group of people is located, does not seem to be getting anything and nothing is coming down the track. Will the Minister make appointments to relieve the pressure? The unused theatre should be available to relieve distress. There are people on waiting lists throughout the county and this is impacting their quality of life. For example, there have been delayed diagnosis of cancers due to the wait, which is seriously impacting quality of life.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I take very seriously the points made by the Deputy. It is very serious for people awaiting these procedures and people are waiting too long. This is why we need a concerted effort to tackle waiting lists and why all of us in this House need to work together in the Estimates process to make sure we adequately resource our health service and the NTPF, as well as our hospitals, to address these issues.

I will specifically raise with the hospital group CEO the issue the Deputy raises in regard to the unused theatres and the consultant posts, and I will pass on his comments in that regard. I reiterate that I have asked every single hospital to put in place an action plan for waiting lists. I have asked what they are going to do in their individual hospital between now and the end of this year to get on top of waiting lists. We cannot have a situation where the Oireachtas last Thursday voted through an additional €500 million for the health service yet we see waiting lists continuing to rise. We need to make sure that when the money leaves the gates of Dáil Éireann, it is spent absolutely in the interests of patients and on some of the other very important issues the Deputy has highlighted.