Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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136. To ask the Minister for Health the number of elective surgeries performed by speciality, by month and by hospital, for each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15562/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Over the last ten years, activity in acute hospitals has increased, with the total number of discharges for Inpatient and Day cases rising by 33.6 per cent, from 1,236,036 in 2006 to 1,651,338 in 2015.

It is important to recognise that, in order to improve efficiency in our hospital system, over the last number of years there has been a greater emphasis on increasing the number of procedures, previously carried out as inpatient procedures, which are now carried out on a daycase basis. Consequently, when comparing hospital elective activity for 2012 with 2016, it can be seen that, while inpatient elective discharges decreased, daycase discharges have increased.

In fact, taken together, elective inpatient discharges and daycase discharges increased from 1.02m in 2012 (full year) to 1.05m in 2016 (Jan to Nov). HSE data for 2016 to the end of November show that while elective inpatient discharges had reduced by 1.6% in comparison with the same period in 2015, daycase discharges increased by 1.9%.

In addition, when considering performance of the public acute hospital sector, emergency care should also be taken into account. 2016 data to the end of November, with respect to emergency inpatient discharges, showed an increase of 4.2% in comparison with the same period in 2015, while 2016 saw an increase in ED attendances of 4.6% over the equivalent period in 2015.

This Government is committed to improving access to, and enhancing, health services. This commitment is reflected in the allocation in 2017 of the highest ever health budget of €14.6 billion.

I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly to provide more details regarding the number of elective surgeries performed.