Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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318. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons in counties Laois and Offaly who are waiting to access the ophthalmology services for more than six months and in excess of one and two years. [31152/18]

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 Inpatient/Day Case Action Plan, launched in April, outlines the combined impact of Health Service Executive (HSE) and NTPF activity in 2018.

In 2018 the NTPF will outsource 22,000 inpatient day cases, while the HSE will deliver 1.14 million hospital operations or procedures. 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 terms of the waiting times in the locations outlined by the Deputy, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.