Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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166. To ask the Minister for Health the number of children on ENT surgery waiting lists nationally by hospital in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24387/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Budget 2019 announced that the Government had further increased investment in tackling waiting lists, with funding to the NTPF increasing from €55 million in 2018 to €75 million in 2019. The joint Department of Health, HSE, and NTPF Scheduled Care Access Plan 2019 was published on 11th March.

Under the Plan the HSE, in line with the National Service Plan, will deliver 1.155 million elective inpatient and day case discharges at a value of €1.4 billion in 2019. The Scheduled Care Access Plan includes:

- detailed plans from the NTPF to fund 25,000 IPDC treatments ; 5,000 Gastro Intestinal Scopes and 40,000 outpatient first appointments.

- Projections by year end to reduce the overall number of patients on the waiting list (excluding GI scopes) from just over 70,200 in Dec 2018 to under 60,000;

- Within this overall reduction the number of patients waiting longer than 3 months will reduce from 40,200 at the end of 2018 to 31,000;

- It is also projected that for ten identified high volume procedures, including tonsillectomies, all clinically suitable patients waiting more than 6 months will be offered treatment in 2019. These 10 procedures account for over a third of the active inpatient day case waiting list and represent 60% of NTPF planned activity in 2019.

In relation to the particular matter raised by the Deputy, the table provides the Inpatient and Day Case waiting list figures for children awaiting ENT surgery by hospital for the years 2016, 2017, 2018 and to the end of April 2019.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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167. To ask the Minister for Health the length of time persons have been on the waiting list for cataract surgery nationally by hospital; the length of time they have been waiting by month in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24388/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Budget 2019 announced that the Government had further increased investment in tackling waiting lists, with funding to the NTPF increasing from €55 million in 2018 to €75 million in 2019. The joint Department of Health, HSE, and NTPF Scheduled Care Access Plan 2019 was published on 11th March.

Under the Plan the HSE, in line with the National Service Plan, will deliver 1.155 million elective inpatient and day case discharges at a value of €1.4 billion in 2019. The Scheduled Care Access Plan includes:

- detailed plans from the NTPF to fund 25,000 IPDC treatments, 5,000 Gastro Intestinal Scopes and 40,000 outpatient first appointments.

- It is also projected that for ten identified high volume procedures, including cataracts, all clinically suitable patients waiting more than 6 months will be offered treatment in 2019. These 10 procedures account for over a third of the active inpatient day case waiting list and represent 60% of NTPF planned activity in 2019.

At the end of July 2017, the number of people waiting for a cataract procedure was 10,024. Under the Inpatient Day Case Access Plan 2018, Cataracts were one of the specialties targeted by the NTPF and by end December 2018, the number of patients waiting had fallen to 6,440, a reduction of 36%. The number of patients waiting for a Cataract procedure at the end of April 2019 had further reduced to 6,151, with 582 patients waiting over 9 months. This represents a reduction of 3,789 or 87% when compared to July 2017, when there were 4,371 patients waiting over 9 months for a cataract operation.

Under the 2019 Scheduled Care Access Plan, all clinically suitable patients waiting longer than 6 months for a cataract procedure will be offered treatment funded by the NTPF.

In relation to the specific matter raised by the Deputy, the table provides a breakdown of the number of people awaiting cataract surgery by time band nationally by hospital.

Waiting List for Cataract Procedures by Hospital by Wait Time Band as at 25/04/2019

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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168. To ask the Minister for Health the medically advised waiting time for cataract surgeries compared to the waiting times for cataract surgeries nationally and per hospital in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24389/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Budget 2019 announced that the Government had further increased investment in tackling waiting lists, with funding to the NTPF increasing from €55 million in 2018 to €75 million in 2019. The joint Department of Health, HSE, and NTPF Scheduled Care Access Plan 2019 was published on 11th March.

Under the Plan the HSE, in line with the National Service Plan, will deliver 1.155 million elective inpatient and day case discharges at a value of €1.4 billion in 2019. The Scheduled Care Access Plan includes:

- detailed plans from the NTPF to fund 25,000 IPDC treatments, 5,000 Gastro Intestinal Scopes and 40,000 outpatient first appointments.

- It is also projected that for ten identified high volume procedures, including cataracts, all clinically suitable patients waiting more than 6 months will be offered treatment in 2019. These 10 procedures account for over a third of the active inpatient day case waiting list and represent 60% of NTPF planned activity in 2019.

At the end of July 2017, the number of people waiting for a cataract procedure was 10,024. Under the Inpatient Day Case Access Plan 2018, Cataracts were one of the specialties targeted by the NTPF, and by end December 2018, the number of patients waiting had fallen to 6,440, a reduction of 36%. The number of patients waiting for a Cataract procedure at the end of April 2019 had further reduced to 6,151, with 582 patients waiting over 9 months. This represents a reduction of 3,789 or 87% when compared to July 2017, when there were 4,371 patients waiting over 9 months for a cataract operation.

Under the 2019 Scheduled Care Access Plan, all clinically suitable patients waiting longer than 6 months for a cataract procedure will be offered treatment funded by the NTPF.

In relation to the specific matter raised by the Deputy, the table provides a breakdown of the number of people awaiting cataract surgery by time band nationally by hospital at the end of April 2019, and I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy on the medically advised waiting time for cataract surgery.

Waiting List for Cataract Procedures by Hospital by Wait Time Band as at 25/04/2019