Written answers

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

Department of Health and Children

Hospital Waiting Lists

10:00 pm

Photo of P J SheehanP J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 173: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the improvements implemented in the waiting list initiative; the way the issues raised by the Comptroller and Auditor General in his value for money report of 2003 on this initiative were addressed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43174/08]

Photo of Mary HarneyMary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) carried out a value for money examination of the Waiting List Initiative for the period between 1998 and 2002 and presented his report in 2003. Among the findings, the C&AG report pointed to the scope for coordinating waiting list funding more effectively. In light of this, and the commitment in the 2001 Health Strategy to reform the organisation and management of waiting lists, the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) was established on a non-statutory basis in 2002 and, in 2004, on a statutory basis.

The primary function of the NTPF is to purchase treatment, primarily from private hospitals, with the aim of reducing the length of time that public patients have to wait for surgery. This has been achieved with a large measure of success since 2002. In that year, the Fund arranged treatment for less than 2000 patients. Earlier this year, it reached the milestone of its 100,000th client, representing approximately 78,000 in-patients and 22,000 out-patients. The Fund also compiles information nationally on the numbers of persons awaiting treatment in acute hospitals and maintains a detailed Patient Treatment Register which enables comparison of waiting times.

The achievements of the NTPF have led to the position that, currently, for nineteen of the twenty most common adult surgical procedures, patients are now treated within two to five months. For children, where eight of the ten most common surgical operations are concerned, patients receive their treatment within two to five months. Currently the median waiting time for all procedures is 3.2 months. Overall, there has been a fall in the number of people on waiting lists for surgical procedures, from 7.4 per 1,000 population in 2002 to 4.3 per 1,000 in 2008.

Notwithstanding the improvements achieved by the NTPF, there remain a significant number of persons waiting for treatment for longer than twelve months. At my request, the NTPF is concentrating on working with the Health Service Executive and the hospitals concerned to ensure that these patients are referred for treatment as quickly as possible. The NTPF has assured me of its commitment to ensuring value for money so that as many patients as possible are treated from the funding allocated to it. In 2007 more than 95% of the Fund's allocation was spent on patient care, the balance being used to meet the Fund's operating costs.

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