Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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366. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to deal with ophthalmology outpatient and inpatient waiting lists in County Louth and other counties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39549/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge that, nationally, the IPDC and Outpatient waiting lists are 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.

Waiting List figures from the NTPF for the end of August show that 47 patients are on the IPDC Ophthalmology Waiting List in Louth County Hospital. All patients are seen within 6 months and 68% of those on the list are waiting 3 months or less. The IPDC Ophthalmology waiting list in Louth County Hospital shows that numbers have decreased by over 32% when compared with the same period last year.

The latest NTPF figures show that there are 40,641 patients on the Ophthalmology Outpatient Waiting List. This shows that there has been a 6.1% increase when compared with the same period last year. There are 715 patients on the combined Ophthalmology Outpatient waiting lists in OLOL and Louth County Hospitals. Nearly 75% of these are waiting less than 9 months and 60% are waiting less than 6 months.

Reducing waiting time for patients for hospital operations and procedures is a key priority for the Government and €50 million was provided to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) in 2018 to secure treatment for patients. The Inpatient/Day Case Action Plan, published last April outlines the combined impact of HSE and NTPF activity in 2018.

The Action Plan places a particular focus on cataract surgery and includes a commitment that the NTPF will provide 5,000 cataract procedures to patients. In addition, the NTPF commits to offer treatment to all clinically suitable patients waiting more than 9 months for a cataract procedure.

The impact of the Action Plan can be seen in the improvements to the National Waiting Lists for Cataracts which have seen a reduction of over 3,100 over the past 13 months. August figures for cataracts show that there are now 6,868 on the waiting list, compared to over 10,000 in July 2017. The number of patients waiting over 9 months for a cataract procedure has gone from over 4,300 in July 2017 to 1,078 in August 2018, with 64% of patients waiting 3 months or less.

The IPDC Ophthalmology waiting list shows that numbers have decreased by almost 20% when compared with the same period last year, and the number of long waiters has decreased by over 56%.

Over the past year, my Department has worked with the HSE and the NTPF to identify sustainable initiatives to improve waiting times. Last year funding was allocated to provide additional capacity at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital which facilitated the expansion of the Hospital’s cataract theatre to three days per week.

A dedicated cataract service commenced at the end of July in Nenagh Hospital. The University of Limerick Hospital Group advise that they expect to deliver 200 cataract procedures by the end of the year and are targeting 2,000 cataract cases for 2019.

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.

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.