Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to answer questions about hospital waiting lists in the south east. The Minister of State knows that I rarely ever get involved in local issues. I do not wish to in any way insult the Minister for Health who is doing an excellent job, as is the Minister of State in his own role. The issues I bring to him today are issues which have national importance.

It has come to my attention that everybody on a waiting list in University Hospital Waterford received a letter from the hospital informing them that their request to be removed from the waiting list had been accepted. Even those who replied that they wished to remain on the waiting list received a second letter asking them if they wished to remain on the list. The false cleansing of the waiting list has not only confused people, but also hides the true nature of waiting lists across all categories in Waterford. We are all still reeling from the "RTE Investigates" programme on the waiting list crisis, and it is difficult to obtain accurate information. I have been told anecdotally that there are more than 6,000 people waiting for both inpatient and outpatient orthopaedic surgery alone in Waterford, with a further 5,000 plus waiting for ophthalmic procedures.

Deputy Seamus Healy has been working hard to secure urology services for University Hospital Waterford, for which the waiting period is now 48 months plus. We all know that people get seriously ill and die in shorter time periods than this and, by the hospital's own admission, "The clinical risk for the Urology Services is on the Corporate Risk register and is rated high risk".

I welcome the announcement that University Hospital Waterford is to get a mobile catheterisation laboratory for cardiac patients and the Minister of State's colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, has had much to do with that, and he is to be complimented on that. However, I regret the fact that it took extensive public and political lobbying to achieve this. Citizens should not have to lobby to get essential health care.

We are not short of money. A total of €900 million has gone into the health system this year alone but the system itself appears to be flawed beyond repair. In fact, the 2016 Euro Health Consumer Index ranked Ireland as the country with the worst waiting times in a large-scale study of 35 countries. As appalling as this statistic sounds, the fact that the quality and length of human life is at the centre of it makes it even worse. I ask that a new system be put in place to ensure that waiting lists are compiled in an accurate, accountable and highly transparent manner.

I welcome the introduction of the new national inpatient, day case, planned procedure, IDPP, waiting list management protocol and I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Harris, and the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, for the reactivation of the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. However, I believe that it will take a very assertive and thorough root and branch overhaul of the HSE to ensure that this protocol and the NTPF will be effective.

I thank the Minister of State for giving of his time to take this time on this matter and I welcome his response specifically on the waiting lists in Waterford.