Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

227. To ask the Minister for Health the extent to which waiting lists for elective surgery will be shortened by way of administrative practices, treatment purchase schemes and otherwise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43443/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Improving waiting times for scheduled care for patients is a key priority for the Government. In January, I put in place maximum permissible waiting times for inpatient and day case treatment and outpatient appointments of 18 months by 30 June and 15 months by year end.

The HSE was provided with additional funding of €51m to ensure that these maximum waiting times would be achieved. In June, the HSE reported a performance against the 18 month maxima of 99.6% for in-patient/day cases (IP/DC) and 92% for out-patients (OPD).

There are personnel and structural challenges which impact on individual specialties and hospital sites. The impact of ED escalation policies, which require the cancellation of non-essential surgery in order to safely manage demand and capacity, may pose a further challenge which cannot be accurately predicted in advance.

The latest NTPF figures, published on Friday 6 November, continue to show improvements. There are reductions in the total Inpatient/Daycase waiting list, and in the numbers of patients waiting between 15 – 18 months and waiting over 18 months.

This is very positive, as it is the first time that we have seen reductions in all 3 key categories. Improvements are also evident in Outpatient lists with the end of October seeing a reduction of almost 5000 and of over 3000 in the number of people waiting between 15 – 18 months for appointments.