Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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89. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to reduce waiting lists for orthopaedics in the north-east region with particular reference to the delays for patients in counties Cavan and Monaghan accessing assessments and treatment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11821/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Reducing waiting times for the longest-waiting patients is one of the Government’s key priorities. It is for this reason that €20 million was allocated to the NTPF in the Budget 2017, rising to €55 million in 2018.

In December 2016, I granted approval to the NTPF to dedicate €5m to a daycase waiting list initiative with the aim of ensuring that no patient will be waiting more than 18 months for a daycase procedure by 30 June 2017. In excess of 2,000 daycases will be managed through this process. The NTPF expects that patients will start to receive their appointments in March.

In order to reduce the numbers of patients waiting long periods of time for inpatient and daycase treatment, including patients waiting for orthopaedic treatment, the HSE was asked to develop a Waiting List Action Plan for 2017. The HSE has now submitted a draft Action Plan and my Department is currently reviewing the draft plan and is engaging with the HSE with a view to its finalisation.