John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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513. To ask the Minister for Health the progress he has made with the HSE and the NTPF to finalise an outpatient action plan for 2018 in order to reduce the growth in the number of persons waiting for outpatient services, improve the accuracy of the waiting lists and trial a number of NTPF-funded interventions, including weekend and out-of-hours clinics; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37479/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge that, nationally, the Outpatient waiting list is a challenge to be addressed in 2018. Waiting times can often unacceptably long and I am conscious of the burden that this places on patients and their families.

My Department, in consultation with the HSE and National Treatment Purchase Fund, is in the process of finalising an Outpatient Action Plan for the remainder of 2018 which I hope to publish shortly. The Plan will support the HSE’s compliance with their National Service Plan targets, reduce the growth in the number of patients waiting for outpatient services.

In addition, in June this year I approved the establishment of a Central Waiting List Validation function with the NTPF. The new Office will deliver a standardisation of approach of validation across all waiting lists and all hospitals in line with the best patient-centred practices. The validation of waiting lists will better inform the true demand for hospital services and enable improved efficiency and patient scheduling.

Furthermore, the NTPF has recently commenced trialling a number of outpatient interventions, including weekend and out of hours clinics. The NTPF has invited proposals from hospital groups and to date this has resulted in the approval of 12,600 outpatient appointments.