Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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296. To ask the Minister for Health the average waiting times for shoulder arthroscopy operations in each of the years 2015 to 2018 and to date in 2019, by county in tabular form. [17347/19]

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 waiting times for inpatient/day case treatment and outpatient appointments. The plan will place a strong focus on a number of high-volume procedures, including orthopaedics. When combined with HSE activity, it is projected that the NTPF will be in a position to offer treatment to all clinically suitable patients waiting more than 6 months for one of these procedures.

The data requested by the Deputy has been provided to my Department by the NTPF and is contained in the document attached. The NTPF advise that the document sets out the average number of days waiting for shoulder arthroscopy at the end of December for each of the years 2015-2018, and for the end of March 2109. It should be noted that the table sets out the waiting time at each specific point in time.