David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 197: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the number of public patients waiting for initial appointments with consultants in order to be assessed for possible elective surgical procedures such as hip operations; the longest and average amount of time that people are waiting; the measures that she intends to put in place to speed up the process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22619/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Data on out-patient waiting times are not collated nationally by my Department. The management of out-patient waiting lists and waiting times is, in the first instance, a matter for the Health Service Executive and the individual hospitals concerned.

However, in 2005 I asked the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to examine the needs of patients waiting longest on out-patient waiting lists. As a result, the NTPF set up a number of out-patient pilot projects around the country. The outcome was that over 4,400 persons, who had been waiting longest in a number of specialties, received consultations at out-patient level in private hospitals. The NTPF intends to expand their out-patient initiative in 2006 and the Fund has asked for proposals from hospitals in this regard.