Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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223. To ask the Minister for Health the extent to which requests for specific medical and surgical procedures have dominated hospital waiting lists in the past two years; the procedures in place to address the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28585/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Improving waiting times for hospital procedures is a key commitment in the Programme for Government and €50 million was allocated to the NTPF in 2018 to provide treatment for patients.

Waiting list data for the past three years show that the highest waiting lists have been across the specialties of orthopaedics, ophthalmology and otolaryngology (ENT).

At the end of May this year, 56% of patients on the Inpatient / Daycase Waiting List were waiting less than 6 months, and 82% waiting less than 12 months for their procedure. This is despite the additional demands on our Acute Hospitals, which, since 2000 are carrying out four times more procedures for patients ages 65 and over and twice as many in the under 65 age group. The overall IPDC waiting list is currently the lowest it has been since October 2016 when it was 79,621.

The recently Inpatient/Day Case Action Plan launched in April, outlines the combined impact of HSE and National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) activity in 2018. The Action Plan has been developed to ensure an appropriate balance between high volume activities and offering treatment to complex long waiting patients. NTPF authorisations are made in respect of the longest waiting patients first.

Under the Action Plan the HSE will deliver 1.14 million elective inpatient and day case discharges and the NTPF will deliver 22,000 Inpatient Day Case treatments through both outsourcing and HSE insourcing.

The NTPF initiatives will include a number of high volume specialities and in particular 5,000 cataracts, 800 hip/knee replacements, 1,200 tonsillectomies.  In addition, under the Plan, the NTPF commits to offer treatment to all clinically suitable patients waiting more than 9 months for treatment in these high volume specialities.

Under the Plan, the NTPF and the HSE are also currently reviewing proposals from hospitals for waiting list initiatives.  The NTPF will provide funding to the solutions proposed if appropriate.