Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 102: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she is satisfied with the Health Service Executive collection and reporting of outpatient waiting lists; the action that she will take to improve outpatient reporting and communication between hospitals and general practitioners on outpatient waiting lists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25834/10]

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 103: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will provide a list of waiting times for outpatient appointments for each speciality in each region of the country; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that public patients have to wait years in many cases for an appointment, having been referred by their general practitioner; the way this is being addressed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25910/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 102 and 103 together.

The improvement of access to outpatient services, which are a key access point to the acute hospital system and involve over three million attendances annually, is a priority for the health service. It is essential that people are afforded timely access to outpatient services when they require them and that these services function effectively as part of an integrated acute hospital and primary care system. The HSE is engaged in a number of measures to improve access to and the efficiency of outpatient services. The principal aims of the National Outpatient Department Service Improvement Programme are to:

Increase the number of new patients seen

Reduce the numbers who do not attend for scheduled appointments (DNAs)

Reduce waiting times for patients and

Ensure that all patients are seen within 30 minutes of their appointment time.

The HSE's 2010 National Service Plan has performance targets for OPD services of a 1:2 new-to-return ratio and a non-attendance rate of not more than 10%. In its Service Plan, at my request, the HSE is committed to developing new indicators, in conjunction with the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF). These will measure median waiting time from:

GP referral to attendance at outpatient

Outpatient attendance to admission where this is indicated, and

GP referral to hospital admission.

Outpatient waiting list data is currently collected primarily at individual hospital level. The HSE is developing a system to provide standardised and comparable national outpatient waiting list data by hospital and specialty. The availability of such information will assist clinicians and health service managers in further improving the performance of outpatient services. My Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to respond directly to the Deputies in relation to outpatient waiting times by region and specialty.