Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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426. To ask the Minister for Health if there is a common outpatient waiting list as per the consultants contract 2008. [49403/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The HIQA Report and Recommendations on Patient Referrals from General Practice to Outpatient and Radiology Services, including the National Standard for Patient Referral Information published in 2011 makes a number of recommendation in relation to Secondary Care Referral Management Systems, including that GP should address referrals in the first instance to a central point within a hospital, then to the relevant specialty/service, followed by named consultant if relevant. The approach is supported in the report by international evidence.

With regard to the Consultant Contract 2008, a key objective of the Contract is to improve access for public patients to public hospital care. Under the Consultant's Contract 2008 and HSE guidance issued from the National Director of Acute Hospitals in September 2009 a common waiting list for treatment, diagnostic investigations, tests and procedures on an outpatient basis in public hospitals is identified. In addition, under HSE policy, private outpatients may not attend public outpatient consultant-led clinics.

Finally, under the HSE National Framework for operation and management of Outpatient Departmentspublished in 2013, referrals for outpatient appointments to a named consultant should be treated as general to the specialty involved, unless it is more appropriate for a particular patient to be managed by a specific consultant.