Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

585. To ask the Minister for Health the steps he has taken to expedite hospital treatment for persons waiting longer than 12 months; the waiting targets for key procedures with long wait times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12505/18]

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

Last October’s Budget announced a total 2018 allocation of €55m for the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) for 2018 which more than doubles its 2017 total allocation which was €20m. This significant increase in funding reflects the fact that reducing waiting times for patients is one of this Government's key priorities.

The Department of Health, the HSE and the NTPF are finalising an Inpatient/Daycase Action Plan 2018 which will set out ambitious targets for both the HSE and NTPF to reduce the overall number of patients waiting for treatment.

The 2018 Inpatient/Day Case Action Plan will see the NTPF and HSE working closely together to enable the provision of treatment patients across a range of specialties and procedures and will focus on long-waiting patients and overall waiting list numbers. The NTPF will work with both public and private hospitals in order to provide access for patients to treatment.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

586. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the fact that the Euro Health Consumer Index 2017 has reported that Irish persons' waiting times for hospital treatment are the worst in Europe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12506/18]

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

The Euro Health Consumer Index 2017 report has highlighted areas that our health service are focused on improving. Reducing waiting times for the longest waiting patients is one of this Government's key priorities.  Waiting times are often unacceptably long and I am conscious of the burden that this places on patients and their families.

Budget 2018 allocated a total of €55m for the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), more than doubling the 2017 allocation of €20m. The HSE and the NTPF are currently finalising 2018 Waiting List Action Plans for 2018, with a specific focus on reducing the number of patients waiting the longest for inpatient and daycase procedures.

Waiting List Figures for the end of February, published by the NTPF on 14 March, show that 72% of Inpatient Day Case patients and 61% of outpatients are waiting 9 months or less. 

At the end of February 2018, there were 79,039 patients in total waiting for an inpatient or day case procedure, this is a reduction of 1,165 patients waiting compared to the end of January 2018 and a reduction of 7,075 when compared to the numbers waiting at the end of July 2017.

This is against a background of increasing demands on our Acute Hospitals, which, since 2000 are carrying out four times more procedures for patients aged 65 and over and twice as many in the under 65 age group.

More broadly, a number of system-wide improvements to Waiting List Management are being undertaken to reform and improve how our health service manages hospital waiting lists.  These initiatives seek to drive sustainable, multi-faceted and innovative approaches in waiting list management.