Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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527. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons from County Meath waiting for a cataract operation; the average wait time; the longest wait time; and the actions being taken to reduce wait times. [30268/18]

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 in 2018 €50 million was allocated to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to provide treatment for patients.

The Action Plan places a particular focus on cataract surgery. The plan commits to offering treatment to all cataract patients who are clinically suitable for outsourcing and who have been waiting more than 9 months for treatment.

In respect of the work of the NTPF, the NTPF authorises public hospitals to offer outsourced treatment to clinically suitable long waiting patients who are on an inpatient/day case waiting list for surgery, having been referred on to such a list following clinical assessment by a consultant/specialist at an outpatient clinic. NTPF authorisations are made in respect of the longest waiting patients first.

In terms on the current waiting times in Meath specifically, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.