Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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208. To ask the Minister for Health the waiting lists for neurology treatments by CHO area in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14443/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Reducing waiting time for patients for hospital operations and procedures is a key priority for Government. Budget 2019 announced that the Government has further increased investment in tackling waiting lists, with funding to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) increasing from €55 million in 2018 to €75 million in 2019.

The joint Department of Health/HSE/NTPF Scheduled Care Access Plan 2019 was published recently and sets out measures to improve care for patients waiting for scheduled care in 2019 by reducing wait times for inpatient/day case treatment and outpatient appointments.

In terms of the information requested by the Deputy, as of the end of February 2019 there were 290 patients on the Inpatient and Daycase (IPDC) waiting list. Of these 44% (128 patients) were waiting less than 3 months, while 61% were waiting less than 6 months. Neurology IPDC waiting lists are held across all six hospital groups, however due to the small volume of patients waiting within specific time bands a full breakdown of those waiting by individual hospital and time band cannot be provided as it can render individual patients identifiable. Neurology IPDC waiting lists are currently held at the following hospitals

Beaumont Hospital

Cork University Hospital

Mater Misericordiae University Hospital

St. James Hospital

St. Vincent's University Hospital

CHI at Crumlin

Galway University Hospital

Sligo University Hospital

The attached table outlines the current waiting list by time band. To maintain patient anonymity, the numbers waiting are only broken down by time bands in instances where there are greater than 10 patients.

IPDC Neurology Waiting List by Hospital