Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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340. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons waiting for a hip operation in CHO2 in each county by periods (details supplied) in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43202/19]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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341. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons waiting for a knee operation in CHO2 in each county by periods (details supplied) in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43203/19]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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342. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons waiting for a cataract operation in CHO2 in each county by periods (details supplied) in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43204/19]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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344. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons waiting for a tonsillitis procedure in CHO2 in each county by periods (details supplied) in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43206/19]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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348. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons waiting for an assessment for osteoporosis in CHO2 in each county by periods (details supplied) in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43210/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 340 to 342, inclusive, 344 and 348 together.

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.

Under the Inpatient Day Case Access Plans for 2018 and 2019, hip & knee procedures, cataracts and tonsils have been among ten specialties targeted by the National Treatment Purchase fund (NTPF), and by end of September 2019, the number of people waiting nationally for one of these ten procedures had fallen by over 40% from 38,368 in July 2017 to 16,149.

The NTPF has advised that currently, there are no patients waiting for an osteoporosis assessment in the Saolta Group and hip/knee operations consists of Hip Replacements/Revisions and Knee Replacements/Revisions procedures.

More broadly, Budget 2020 announced that the Government has further increased investment in tackling waiting lists, with funding to the 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.

My Department is working with the HSE and National Treatment Purchase Fund to develop the Scheduled Care Access Plan 2020. The National Service Plan 2020 will set out HSE planned activity level for the year ahead, while the NTPF will work with the hospital system to provide additionality to improve access to inpatient/daycase treatment and with a particular focus on hospital outpatient services.

In this regard, I would 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.

The information requested by the deputy is outlined in the document attached.

Total Waiters for Cataract Surgery in SAOLTA Hospital Group by Hospital by Wait Time Band as at 26/09/2019

*To ensure anonymity numbers lower than 5 have been merged in certain timebands

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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343. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons waiting for a scoliosis procedure in CHO2 in each county by periods (details supplied) in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43205/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The HSE has advised my Department that there is an agreed clinical pathway in place for Paediatric scoliosis patients between Galway University Hospital (GUH) and Children's Health Ireland (CHI). In addition, for patients over 16 years of age there is also a pathway in place to access services at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (MMUH).

Saolta Hospital Group has advised that there are currently 7 patients awaiting scoliosis surgery at Galway University Hospitals (GUH). Due to the small volume of patients waiting, to preserve patient confidentiality, a further breakdown of patients by adult/child cannot be provided. Saolta has further advised that to date in 2019, no scoliosis surgeries have taken place in Galway University Hospitals.

Saolta Hospital Group has further advised that Paediatric scoliosis patients are to be referred to CHI at Crumlin, and that they are working on treatment plans for adults who are currently awaiting scoliosis surgery at GUH.