Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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423. To ask the Minister for Health if he is satisfied that all hospitals' waiting lists are accurate; his views on all waiting lists setting out expected waiting time; the progress that has been made in recent years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44211/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The policy of the HSE is clear. All hospital managers are expected to efficiently manage waiting lists in chronological order, except where clinical need dictates that a patient needs to be prioritised. Performance against waiting list targets is monitored by the HSE on a monthly basis, with the assistance of the National Treatment Purchase Fund and the Special Delivery Unit. Figures are published retrospectively to ensure their veracity and accuracy.

With regard to waiting list targets, these were set in respect of access to both scheduled and unscheduled care following on from the establishment of the SDU in 2012. With regard to unscheduled care, figures for 14 November show that compared to the baseline year of 2011, there are 32.0% fewer patients on trolleys, equivalent to 25,182 patients. The waiting lists for scheduled care were reduced from 9 months to 8 months in 2013, as analysis of waiting list data indicated that this target is challenging but achievable. In March 2013, following publication of the first validated outpatient waiting list numbers, a target of 12 months for a first consultant-led outpatient appointment was established. Progress in streamlining referral processing and targeting capacity gains for increased new appointments has led to an increase of 3% (64,289) in out-patient attendances between January - August 2014 in comparison to 2013. Total out-patient attendances year to date were 2,140,031.

Despite seeing more patients, demand for services continues to exceed available supply. The trends indicate that waiting lists are likely to increase further, with capacity to provide services for these patients curtailed by increased emergency admissions and delayed discharges. The HSE continues to seek improvements in the provision of elective surgery, medical and outpatient services through reform, facilitation of local level initiatives, strict adherence to the National Waiting List Protocol and relevant clinical programme guidelines and networking of services between hospitals in the new hospital Groups, in addition to reducing the number of patients who do not turn up for their appointment, and increasing the number of new patients in outpatient clinics rather than just reviewing previous patients who are often better returned to their GP.

The Government has provided additional funding of €25 million in 2015 to address delayed discharges and thereby improve timeliness for admissions from Emergency Departments and waiting lists. The plans to address in-patient and day-case waiting lists are being considered in the 2015 Service Planning process which is currently underway and progress in this area will be a priority for hospital groups throughout next year.