Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Health if the public have ready and easy access to all preliminary procedures preparatory to surgical or medical interventions with particular reference to obtaining the necessary appointments with consultants to ensure the minimisation of waiting times in all public hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57316/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Immediately following my appointment, I established the Special Delivery Unit, as set out in the Programme for Government. The aim of the SDU is to unblock access to acute services by improving the flow of patients through the system.

The initial focus for the SDU's Scheduled Care Team has been on waiting times for in-patient and daycase elective surgery. For adults, the target waiting time is that no-one should be waiting more than nine months for inpatient and day case treatments. By 13 December last, the number of adults waiting more than 9 months was just 434 compared with 3,706 patients waiting longer than nine months at the end of December 2011. For children, the target is that by the end of 2012 no child should be waiting for inpatient or daycase treatment for more than 20 weeks. Again, huge progress has been made towards this target – on 13 December, there were just 234 children waiting longer than 20 weeks compared with 1,759 at the end of December 2011.

Improving access to outpatient services is the next priority for the Government and for the SDU Scheduled Care Team. Building on work already undertaken by the HSE, the NTPF has now taken over the reporting of outpatient waiting time data. For the first time, clear and comprehensive data on this problem is being reported. In the first instance, the data now being collected will allow the SDU and NTPF to target their resources towards those patients who are waiting longest and ensure that they are seen and assessed. A maximum waiting time target has now been set of 12 months for a first time outpatient appointment by 30 November 2013.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Health the extent to which patient numbers in public and private hospitals continue to be monitored with a view to ensuring that the public hospital system is not used as a means of direct or indirect support to the private area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57317/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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With regard to patient numbers in public hospitals, data is collected on each in-patient and daycase discharge from the public hospital system. With regard to patient numbers in the private system, the CSO Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) collects and publishes data on private hospital activity; note that this is survey data.

With regard to the issue of direct or indirect support from public hospitals to private hospitals, if the Deputy wishes to raise a particular issue in this regard I will be happy to address it.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Health the number and nature of surgical and or medical procedures carried out in the public hospital sector in each of the past five years and to date in 2012; the extent of any trends emerging; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57319/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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In relation to the specific query raised by the Deputy, as this is a service matter it has been referred to the HSE for direct reply.