Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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744. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons on a waiting list to see a dietitian by community healthcare organisation, CHO, and age category; and the breakdown by the length of time they have been waiting in tabular form. [3929/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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745. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons on a waiting list to see an allergist or get an allergy test by community healthcare organisation, CHO, and age category; and the breakdown by the length of time they have been waiting in tabular form. [3930/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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It is recognised that waiting times for scheduled appointments and procedures have been impacted in the last year as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the HSE endeavoured to optimise access to care, including allergy testing, through alternative work practices such the use of alternative settings including private hospitals, community facilities, and alternative outpatient settings.

One such initiative took place at City West Convention Centre over a period of six weeks starting early September 2020. Children's Health Ireland, in conjunction with the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), arranged day case procedures for 474 long waiting patients on the CHI Clinical Immunology Waiting List to undergo Food Challenges at City West.

The HSE is currently recommending that only critical time dependent elective procedures are undertaken at this time due to the on-going and significant increased demand for bed capacity related to Covid-19.

This decision was made arising from the rapid increase in Covid-19 admissions and to ensure patient safety and that all appropriate resources were made available for Covid-19 related activity and time-critical essential work.

Patient safety remains at the centre of all hospital activity and elective care scheduling. To ensure services are provided in a safe, clinically-aligned and prioritised way, hospitals are following HSE clinical guidelines and protocols.

The NTPF have advised my Department that as of the end December 2020 there were 2,911 patients on outpatient clinical immunology waiting lists in Ireland and 311 patients on inpatient clinical immunology waiting lists. This data, broken down by age category and hospital, is provided in the attached tables.

Outpatient Clinical Immunology Waiting List as of 23/12/2020 by Age Profile, by time-band

IPDC Immunology Waiting List as of 23/12/2020 by Age Profile, by time- band

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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746. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons on a waiting list to see a community ophthalmic physician by community healthcare organisation, CHO, and age category; and the breakdown by the length of time they have been waiting in tabular form. [3931/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.