Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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193. To ask the Minister for Health the degree to which he expects hospital waiting lists to improve in the course of the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41518/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Reducing waiting times for hospital appointments and procedures is a key commitment of government.

Waiting list figures for the end of September, due to be published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) later this week, show that there are almost 68,000 people on the Inpatient Daycase (IPDC) Waiting List. This is a reduction of 7% (4,733) compared to September 2018. Of those patients, the numbers waiting over 3 months have decreased by 13% (5,718), and the numbers waiting over 12 months have decreased by 19% (2,474).

While there has been considerable progress in the reduction of waiting times for Inpatient and Daycase treatments, I am conscious that the Outpatient Waiting List remains a significant challenge as demand for acute hospital services continues to grow. Waiting list figures for the end of September show that there are 568,769 patients on the outpatient waiting list. Of these, 59% (337,171) are waiting 9 months or less for an outpatient appointment and 69% (390,262) are waiting 12 months or less. Over the remainder of this year, the NTPF National Central Validation Unit will increase their activity which will see the validation of a further 100,000 patient files and with a particular focus on OPD waiting lists.

More broadly, Budget 2020 announced that the Government has further increased investment in tackling waiting lists, with funding to the National Treatment Purchase fund (NTPF) increasing from €75 million in 2019 to €100 million in 2020. The year-on-year increases to the National Treatment Purchase Fund since Budget 2017 reflect this Government’s priority to improve waiting times for patients to access hospital treatment.

In addition, my Department has established a Working Group comprised of representatives from the HSE, NTPF, and Departmental officials, to examine ways of improving access for patients waiting for scheduled care. Part of this work includes developing initiatives which will move care to the most appropriate setting, and at the lowest level of complexity.

My Department is working with the HSE and NTPF to develop the Scheduled Care Access Plan 2020. In this regard, the HSE National Service Plan 2020 will set out a planned activity level for the year ahead, while the NTPF will work with the hospital system to provide additionality to reduce inpatient/day case waiting lists, with a particular focus on improving access to hospital outpatient services. In 2020, the Department will also be asking the HSE and NTPF to work together with the Sláintecare Implementation Office with the aim of driving sustainable improvements to service provision.

In this regard, I encourage all hospital groups and individual hospitals to engage with the NTPF to identify waiting list proposals for the remainder of this year and for 2020.