Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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124. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to a change in administrative procedure regarding the way in which the RCSI group communicates with patients (details supplied); if the practice of writing to persons on waiting lists to confirm they still require treatment is standard practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47506/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Good practice around the management of hospital waiting lists recommends periodic validation of waiting lists.

Validation is the process whereby hospital administration contacts patients on waiting lists at pre-planned intervals during the year to ensure that patients are ready, willing, suitable and available to attend a hospital appointment or wish to be removed.

Importantly, the validation process allows for situations where, if requested by the GP/referring clinician, patients can be reinstated back to their original place on to the Waiting List.

Earlier this year, I approved the establishment of a Central Waiting List Validation Unit function, within the NTPF. This new function will deliver a standardised approach to validation across all hospitals in line with best patient-centred practices. Other benefits of the new function will include the identification of patients on waiting lists who are ready and available to proceed with hospital care, the reduction in the Did Not Attend rate (DNA), and an improvement in information for managing waiting lists. The NTPF estimates that 30,000 patients who no longer require treatment will come off the outpatient waiting list in 2019 as a result of this activity.

In relation to the particulars matters of the query raised, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.