Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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182. To ask the Minister for Health the number of children waiting for hospital appointments in CHO2 by county and wait time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24432/19]

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 in March 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. 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 high-volume procedures.

A key element of the Plan is the stabilisation of the Outpatient Waiting List. Under the Plan the HSE, in line with the National Service Plan, will aim to deliver 3.3 million outpatient appointments, of which approximately 1 million will be first appointments. Under the plan the NTPF will use €6 million to deliver 40,000 first Outpatient appointments.

The plan includes a target that the number of patients waiting for a first Outpatient appointment will fall from over 516,000 at the end of 2018 to under 509,000 by the end of 2019. This target takes into account the more than 800,000 new patients who will be added to the Outpatient waiting list in 2019; a figure that is based on trends for the previous two years.

While the meeting of short-term targets is always welcome, more can be achieved and, in this regard, the HSE, Department of Health and NTPF, under the Access Plan, will work together with the objective of developing medium-long term improvement initiatives for patient access to hospital procedures. This will include moving care to more appropriate settings and providing care at the lowest level of complexity such as providing ophthalmology in the community; maximising the use of Advanced Nurse Practitioner led clinics; and physiotherapists to manage orthopaedic clinics.

The data requested by the Deputy is outlined in the table.

Saolta Childrens Outpatient by Hospital

Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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183. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons on a waiting list for surgical procedures in the CHO2 area in counties Mayo, Galway and Roscommon by length of time on the waiting list in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24433/19]

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 in March 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. 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 high-volume procedures.

The latest published National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) figures for the end of April show that the Saolta University Health Care Group IPDC waiting list has decreased by 17% (-3,271) when compared to the same period last year. 70% (11,464) of patients on the Saolta IPDC waiting list are waiting 9 months or less and 80% (13,049) are waiting 12 months or less.  In terms of long waiters, the number of patients waiting over 12 months has decreased by 17% (-652) when compared to the same period last year.

The information requested by the deputy is outlined in the table.

Saolta Group IPDC Waiting Times