Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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2555. To ask the Minister for Health the number of additional hospital beds that are required to overhaul the currently identified hospital waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38113/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Waiting lists have grown to historically high levels due to the cessation of services during periods of the pandemic and more recently have been further impacted by the cyber-attack on the HSE. The numbers of people now waiting for diagnostics and treatment far exceed Sláintecare waiting time targets.

Tackling waiting lists will require a concerted, focused effort from across the Department of Health, HSE, NTPF, GPs, and other partners, including voluntary and private providers. Budget 2021 demonstrated a strong commitment by Government to the Sláintecare vision and to enhancing the permanent capacity of the health services, substantially increase the workforce, expand the scale and range of services to be provided in the community and introduce targeted measures to improve access to care and address known capacity deficits highlighted by the Health Service Capacity Review 2018.

The Sláintecare Implementation Strategy & Action Plan 2021-2023, approved by Government in May, committed to the development of a multi-annual waiting lists reduction plan. This work is well advanced, and the plan is expected to be submitted to Government for its consideration in the near future.

Subject to approval, the plan will focus on a number of pillars, including building capacity, reform of scheduled care, management and reporting waiting lists, policy reform, eHealth, performance management and communications. It aims to result in significant year on year waiting times improvement with a view to fully achieving the Sláintecare maximum wait time targets of 10 weeks for Outpatients/Assessments, 12 weeks for Inpatients/day-cases and 10 days for Diagnostics by 2026.