Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 230: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children when she last received a report from the Health Service Executive on the waiting period from referral to a consultant appointment. [19528/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Information on the length of time that patients spend waiting for an appointment with a consultant following their referral by a General Practitioner is not collected on a national basis by the Health Service Executive and is not, therefore, available to my Department.

In 2005, I asked the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to examine the needs of patients waiting longest for hospital out-patient appointments. As a result, the NTPF set up a number of out-patient pilot projects around the country. The outcome was that approximately 4,400 persons, who had been waiting longest in a number of specialties, were given out-patient appointments in private hospitals. An additional 3,100 patients were removed from out-patient waiting lists as part of a validation process. In 2006 the NTPF proposes to build on the progress made in 2005 by arranging out-patient appointments for a further 6,000 patients.