Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 168: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if she will take action to shorten the waiting time for appointments with hospital consultants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29740/04]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 169: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if she or the national treatment purchase fund has collated statistics indicating the average waiting times for outpatient appointments with hospital consultants; and if so, if she will provide these statistics. [29741/04]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 171: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the average waiting time for pre-operative outpatient appointments with hospital consultants for patients requiring hip replacement operations. [29743/04]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 168, 169 and 171 together.

Responsibility for management and monitoring of outpatient waiting lists, including orthopaedic outpatient waiting lists, rests with individual hospitals and health boards. It is a matter for each hospital to prioritise its services based on patient need and use its available resources to best effect to ensure that patient services are delivered efficiently and effectively. Figures on the number of persons waiting for an outpatient appointment with a consultant are not collected by my Department. However, I intend to raise with the national treatment purchase fund, NTPF, the question of how we might begin to make progress in relation to outpatient appointments in 2005.

In accordance with health strategy objectives, the Government's immediate focus is on the reduction of waiting lists and waiting times for inpatients and day case treatments in acute hospitals. This is being particularly facilitated by the NTPF.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 170: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the average waiting times for hip replacement operations in each of the health board areas. [29742/04]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Responsibility for the collection and reporting of waiting lists and waiting times now falls within the remit of the national treatment purchase fund, NTPF.

My Department has asked the acting chief executive of the national treatment purchase fund to reply directly to the Deputy on the matter raised.