Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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55. To ask the Minister for Health the action that will be taken to reduce outpatient waiting times for neurology consultations in Galway University Hospital in which 466 appointments are outstanding for more than 18 months. [28196/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Improving waiting times for hospital procedures and outpatient appointments is a key commitment in the Programme for Government. While the Inpatient and Day Case (IPDC) Action Plan was published in April to address waiting times for IPDC procedures, the outpatient waiting list remains a significant challenge to be addressed in 2018.

There are currently 2,664 patients on the neurology outpatient waiting list in Galway University Hospital, with 70% (1,891) waiting less than a year.

In order to address the issue of growing outpatient waiting list numbers, my Department, the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) are in the process of finalising an Outpatient Action Plan for 2018. This plan will support the HSE’s compliance with its National Service Plan targets, reduce the growth in the number of patients waiting for outpatient services, improve the accuracy of the waiting list, and trial a number of NTPF-funded interventions, including weekend and out-of-hours clinics.

It is worth noting that in 2017 almost half a million (477,000) outpatients did not attend their appointment. Therefore, the validation of waiting lists is an important part of the successful management of waiting lists and clinics. This month I approved the establishment of a Central Validation Office in the NTPF in order to centralise the validation of all waiting lists across the HSE. The NTPF envisages being in a position to commence validation of patient files from September of this year.

In relation to the specific measure being taken by Galway University Hospital, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.