Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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231. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to reduce the waiting time for cataract removal procedures in Galway University Hospital from 24 to 30 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24902/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge that Ophthalmology waiting times are often unacceptably long and am conscious of the impact of this on people’s lives.

Reducing waiting times for the longest waiting patients is one of this Government's key priorities. Consequently, Budget 2017 allocated €20 million to the NTPF, 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 and patients have started to receive appointments and procedures. Long-waiting Ophthalmology patients are a core group who will receive treatment under this initiative.

In order to reduce the numbers of long-waiting patients, I asked the HSE to develop Waiting List Action Plans for 2017 in the areas of Inpatient/Daycase, Scoliosis and Outpatient Services. These plans have now been finalised and will be communicated shortly.

The HSE is currently finalising the Report of the Primary Care Eye Services Review, which aims to reorganise primary eye-care services with an increased emphasis on maximising delivery of a comprehensive service in primary care, thereby creating capacity in hospitals to provide more complex ophthalmology services.