Written answers

Tuesday, 15 February 2022

Department of Health

Hospital Waiting Lists

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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904. To ask the Minister for Health the extent to which a major reconfiguration of the health services can be undertaken with a view to a specific deadline in 2022 for the elimination of various waiting lists by way of the utilisation of whatever means might be available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8415/22]

Photo of Stephen DonnellyStephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The 2022 waiting list action plan, which I will be bringing to Government shortly, builds on the successes of the short-term 2021 plan that ran from September to December last year. The actions under the 2021 plan delivered immediate extra activity that resulted in a 5.4% reduction in overall waiting lists. That’s over 40,000 additional men, women and children no longer on waiting lists.

The short-term plan also incorporated reform actions that will continue to be progressed as part of the 2022 waiting list action plan. This reform work includes: revised waiting list management protocols; improved data collection and information; and further work towards improving patient pathways of care, with some 37 priority scheduled care pathways across 16 specialties on track for implementation in 2022. These will ensure the availability of more timely access to care for people in settings closer to their communities and homes.

The Waiting List Task Force has produced a comprehensive 2022 waiting list action plan and will meet regularly to drive progress of this plan, as well as continuing to work to identify new and innovative ways to improve access to care for our citizens.

The 2022 Plan commits €350 million to further reducing waiting lists and improving waiting times this year, including €150 million funding to the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

This plan is the first year of a multi-annual reform plan to bring about meaningful changes to achieve sustained reductions in waiting list numbers and waiting times.

But most importantly it will positively impact the lives of the many men, women and children on those waiting lists who deserve, and will get, more timely health care as a result.

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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905. To ask the Minister for Health the most readily available means whereby the implementation of Sláintecare can be ensured in order to overhaul the long waiting lists in the disciplines most affected in the health services to provide the ready availability of a comprehensive health service to the general public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8416/22]

Photo of Stephen DonnellyStephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The 2022 waiting list action plan, which I will be bringing to Government shortly, builds on the successes of the 2021 short-term Waiting List Action Plan that ran from September to December last year. The actions under the 2021 plan delivered immediate extra activity that resulted in a 5.4% reduction in overall waiting lists. That’s over 40,000 additional men, women and children no longer on waiting lists.

The 2017 all-party Oireachtas Sláintecare Report recognises the need to reduce waiting times for scheduled care services, especially for those with urgent and complex care needs. It sets out the following recommended maximum waiting time targets to be achieved by 2026: no patient should wait longer than 10 weeks for outpatients / assessments; 12 weeks for inpatients / day cases; and 10 days for diagnostics.

The 2022 Waiting List Action Plan outlines specific actions which are being taken forward in 2022 to further stabilise and deliver immediate reductions in acute scheduled care waiting lists volumes in tandem with a series of longer-term reform measures to fundamentally resolve underlying and ongoing barriers to the timely delivery of care - reducing maximum wait times, as the first step towards achieving the Sláintecare targets.

This plan is therefore the first year of a multi-annual reform plan to bring meaningful changes in achieving sustained reductions in waiting list numbers and waiting times.

This reform work includes: revised waiting list management protocols; improved data collection and information; and further work towards improving patient pathways of care, with some 37 priority scheduled care pathways across 16 specialties on track for implementation in 2022. These will ensure the availability of more timely access to care for people in settings closer to their communities and homes, in line with Sláintecare.

The success of longer-term reform to waiting lists will be dependent on the effective and timely delivery of other reform initiatives in progress but under seperate governance and project management structures within the Sláintecare Implementation Programme. The Waiting List Task Force will ensure that the 2022 Waiting List Action Plan and subsequent multi-annual plans will be aligned with these other interdependent initiatives, which include: new electives-only hospitals; reform of eligibility policy; Enhanced Community Care; implementation of the Regional Health Areas (RHAs); the Sláintecare consultant contract; implementation of the capacity review; strategic workforce planning; eHealth initiatives.

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