Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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223. To ask the Minister for Health the reason the commitment to have no public patient waiting more than 15 months for surgery or a specialist appointment by October 2017 has been abandoned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28148/17]

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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227. To ask the Minister for Health the reason the commitment to have no public patient waiting more than 15 months for surgery or a specialist appointment by October 2017 has been abandoned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27911/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 223 and 227 together.

I acknowledge that waiting times are often unacceptably long and I am conscious of the burden that this places on patients and their families.

There is no doubt that our public hospital system is challenged in meeting the growing demand for care. Last year alone, there was a 2% increase in inpatient and day-case activity over 2015.

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 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. The Inpatient / Daycase and Outpatient Plans which have now been published and currently being implemented, focus on reducing the number of patients waiting 15 months or more for inpatient and daycase treatment or outpatient appointment as much as possible within existing resources by the end of October. The Scoliosis Action Plan aims to ensure that no patient who requires scoliosis surgery will be waiting more than four months for surgery by the end of 2017. Under these Plans, since early February, over 14,200 patients have come off the Inpatient/Daycase Waiting List and nearly 49,000 patients have come off the Outpatient Waiting List.

In addition, the NTPF has advised that under the ongoing Daycase Waiting List Initiative over 2,500 patients files have been transferred to private hospitals under this Initiative, 631 patients have accepted an offer of treatment in a private hospital and that over 178 patients have received their procedure .