Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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1102. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide information regarding public hospital waiting lists for surgery (details supplied). [36516/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge that waiting times are often unacceptably long and I am conscious of the burden that this places on patients and their families.

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. These plans have been published and their implementation is ongoing. The Inpatient/Daycase and Outpatient Plans focus on reducing the number of patients waiting 15 months or more for inpatient and daycase treatment or for an outpatient appointment 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.

In addition, the NTPF is currently rolling out its Daycase Waiting List Initiative focused on those waiting longest for daycase treatment. The NTPF advises that 3,200 patients waiting more than 18 months for a daycase procedure had received an offer of an appointment for their procedure by the end of June .

In response to the particular query raised, the NTPF provide comprehensive and up to date data on inpatient and daycase waiting lists on their website www.ntpf.ie.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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1103. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide information regarding public hospital waiting lists (details supplied). [36517/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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

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. These plans have been published and their implementation is ongoing. The Inpatient/Daycase and Outpatient Plans focus on reducing the number of patients waiting 15 months or more for inpatient and daycase treatment or for an outpatient appointment 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 16,700 patients have come off the Inpatient/Daycase Waiting List and nearly 62,000 patients have come off the Outpatient Waiting List.

In response to the particular query raised, the NTPF provide comprehensive and up to date data on outpatient waiting lists on their website www.ntpf.ie.