Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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620. To ask the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary will receive an appointment for surgery. [25098/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The National Waiting List Management Policy, A standardised approach to managing scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures, January 2013, has been developed to ensure that all administrative, managerial and clinical staff follow an agreed national minimum standard for the management and administration of waiting lists for scheduled care. This policy, which has recently been adopted by the HSE, sets out the processes that hospitals are to implement to manage waiting lists. In relation to this particular query raised by the Deputy, I have asked the Health Service Executive to investigate the situation and respond directly to the Deputy in this matter.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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621. To ask the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) in County Offaly may expect an appointment at the Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore, County Offaly. [25101/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Improving access to outpatient services is a key priority for the Government. Building on work already undertaken by the HSE, the National Treatment Purchase Fund has now taken over the reporting of outpatient waiting time data. For the first time data is available on www.ntpf.ie. The collation and analysis of outpatient waiting time data in a standardised format will reveal the distribution of long waiters across all hospitals. For 2013, a maximum waiting time target has now been set of 12 months for a first time outpatient appointment. In parallel with reducing the numbers of longest waiters, the SDU will also work with the HSE Clinical Programmes to reform the structure, organisation and delivery of outpatient services to ensure that the right patient is seen and assessed by the right health professional at the right time. In relation to the particular query raised by the Deputy, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy in this matter.