Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Reducing waiting times for the longest waiting patients is one of this Government's key priorities. Consequently, Budget 2018 allocated €55 million for the National Treatment Purchase Fund in 2018. This significant increase in funding more than doubles their 2017 total allocation which was €20m.

The HSE and NTPF are working together to develop coherent and synergistic Waiting List Action Plans in 2018 for inpatient/daycase and outpatient which will continue to arrange the provision of treatment for patients across a range of specialties and procedures. These initiatives will continue to focus on long-waiting patients and overall waiting list numbers.

The NTPF advise that they do have provision to send people for dental treatment if they are on a hospital waiting list. The National Waiting List Management Policy, A standardised approach to managing scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures, January 2014,has been developed to ensure that all administrative, managerial and clinical staff follow an agreed national minimum standard for the management and administration of waiting lists for scheduled care. This policy, which has been adopted by the HSE, sets out the processes that hospitals are to implement to manage waiting lists.

In relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to you directly.