Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for the opportunity to update the Seanad on current initiatives ongoing to address ophthalmology waiting times and the primary eye care report. I acknowledge that ophthalmology waiting times, including those for cataract procedures, are often unacceptably long and I am conscious of the burden and quality of life issues for these patients and their families. However, work is being undertaken to address ophthalmology waiting lists nationally.

Reducing waiting times for the longest waiting patients is one of the Government’s key priorities. It is for this reason that €20 million was allocated to the NTPF in budget 2017, rising to €55 million in 2018. The NTPF is currently rolling out its day-case initiative, which is focused on those waiting longest for day-case treatment. The NTPF has advised that, to date, nearly 3,000 patient files have been transferred to private hospitals under this initiative, close to 900 patients have accepted an offer of treatment and some 400 patients have received their procedure.

With regard to patients waiting for ophthalmology procedures in particular, over 1,800 who were offered treatment under the NTPF initiative and nearly all 400 who accepted treatment were ophthalmology patients. As a result of this initiative, the number of patients waiting longest for ophthalmology procedures nationally has decreased this month from 1,065 to 825.Furthermore, to reduce the number of long-waiting patients the Minister for Health asked the HSE to develop waiting list action plans for 2017 in the areas of inpatient day-case, scoliosis and outpatient services. These plans have been published and their implementation is ongoing.

The primary care eye services review group report was published on 28 June 2017. The report examines the primary care eye services currently provided to children and adults nationwide, including HSE directly-provided services and contracted primary care services. The report sets out models of care and referral pathways for the management of most eye care conditions and has determined that there is a need to move from community ophthalmic physicians managing all referrals to a model centred on a primary eye care team based in a primary care location, with optimum accommodation facilities, equipment and resources and supported by an IT patient management system. The HSE has estimated that the establishment of the primary eye care team will require investment of €20 million by the HSE over a four to five-year timeframe. It will be a matter for the HSE to prioritise the available resources to deliver the optimal health outcomes and the Minister for Health looks forward to the HSE implementing the report’s recommendations.

In addition, the Minister, Deputy Harris, is supporting other initiatives to address ophthalmology waiting times. Last week, he opened a new theatre at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital which will enable an additional 1,150 cataract procedures to be performed between July and December this year. It is envisaged that an additional 3,000 procedures will be carried out in both 2018 and 2019. This will see the elimination of waiting lists at the hospital by the end of 2018 and the elimination of the Ireland East Hospital Group’s waiting list by the end of 2019. This new theatre also has the potential to provide significant additional capacity to help address the waiting list for cataract procedures nationally.