Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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1612. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the recruitment of main lead paediatric pain consultant specialist roles by Children’s Health Ireland; the number of paediatric pain consultants employed full-time and part-time, respectively; the number of full-time and part-time paediatric pain consultant roles that are currently vacant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14837/21]

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.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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1613. To ask the Minister for Health if the recently recruited multi-disciplinary team for children in chronic pain is currently seeing patients; if not, the reason for the delay; the timeline for when they will commence seeing patients; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14838/21]

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.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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1614. To ask the Minister for Health the number of children on the pain relief outpatient waiting list; if Children’s Health Ireland is currently taking referrals for children in need of chronic pain services; if not, the length of time it has been since it took these referrals; the reason it has not been taking these referrals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14839/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I recognise that waiting times for scheduled appointments and procedures have been impacted in the last year as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic and acknowledge the distress and inconvenience for patients and their families 

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 National Waiting List Management Policy is a standardised approach used by the HSE to manage scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures.  It sets out the processes that hospitals are to implement to manage waiting lists and was developed in 2014 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.

In relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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1615. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the pain relief outpatient waiting list reports as listed on the website of the National Treatment Purchase Fund, collates data on waiting lists for pain relief in the age-groups 0 to 15 and 16 to 64 years, despite the commitment by Children’s Health Ireland to treat chronic pain patients up to 18 years of age; if he has concerns that this current age group breakdown makes it difficult to accurately ascertain the number of children up to 18 years of age who are currently awaiting pain relief; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14840/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I recognise that waiting times for scheduled appointments and procedures have been impacted in the last year as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic and acknowledge the distress and inconvenience for patients and their families 

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 National Waiting List Management Policy is a standardised approach used by the HSE to manage scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures.  It sets out the processes that hospitals are to implement to manage waiting lists and was developed in 2014 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.

In relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.