Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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310. To ask the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) will be called for a hospital appointment; the number of persons ahead of them on the list; his plans to invest in the service to improve the waiting times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39286/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Under the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual. 

The National Waiting List Management Policy, a standardised approach to managing scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures, since January 2014, has been developed to ensure that all administrative, managerial and clinical staff follow an agreed national minimum standard for the management and administration of waiting lists for scheduled care. This policy, which has been adopted by the HSE, sets out the processes that hospitals are to implement to manage waiting lists. 

Reducing waiting time for patients for hospital operations and procedures is a key priority for Government. In this regard, the Government is committed to improving waiting times for hospital appointments and procedures. 

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 access for patients waiting for scheduled care this year.  

In relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.