David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1717. To ask the Minister for Health the mean, median and maximum waiting time for surgeries across each discipline, speciality and hospital; the change for each in each of the years 2018 to 2020, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18764/21]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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2051. To ask the Minister for Health the mean, median and maximum wait time for surgeries by specialty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19691/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1717 and 2051 together.

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.

Elective hospital care was curtailed for the first quarter of 2021, in line with the rapid increase in Covid-19 hospital admissions, with only critical time dependent elective procedures undertaken.

On 23 March the HSE published the “Safe Return to Health Services Plan”. This plan outlines a three phased approach for the proposed restoration of services across Community Services, Acute Hospital Operations, Cancer Services and Screening Services. It sets target times for their safe return and details the conditions and challenges that will have to be met. Every phase of the plan has been informed by clinical guidance and putting patient and staff safety first. Decisions in relation to the type and volume of activity will be made at site level based on local COVID-19 numbers, available capacity and guidance from national clinical leads.

The schedule outlined in the plan for resumption of services will be regularly monitored by the HSE and updated as appropriate, dependant on public health advice and healthcare capacity.

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 work of the HSE to improve access to elective care and reduce waiting times for patients is supported by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF). This includes increased use of private hospitals, funding weekend and evening work in public hospitals, funding “see and treat” services where minor procedures are provided at the same time as outpatient consultations, funding hybrid services where public and private hospitals contribute to the treatment of patients, virtual clinics and clinical validation.

€240 million has been provided in Budget 2021 for an access to care fund, €210m of which has been allocated to the HSE and a further €30m to the National Treatment Purchase Fund. This will be used to fund additional capacity to address the shortfall arising as a result of measures taken in the context of COVID-19, as well as to address waiting lists.

With regard to the particular query raised by the Deputy, the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) has advised my Department that in relation to median/mean figures, the health system does not collect the data necessary to calculate average wait times. In particular, the time to treatment of patients who have already received their care is not collected. The NTPF collects data on patients currently on the waiting list and the average time that these patients have been waiting is provided in the attached table.

In relation to the maximum waiting time for surgeries, the NTPF has further advised that in order to protect patient confidentiality, the data in the table provided shows the 5th longest waiting time in each hospital for each speciality. This means that there are 5 people waiting at least the quoted time per speciality per hospital. In situations where there are less than 5 people waiting, that data has been excluded.