Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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795. To ask the Minister for Health the number of patients currently on the endoscopy waiting list at University Hospital Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9615/22]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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796. To ask the Minister for Health the number of patients currently on the endoscopy waiting list for longer than 13 weeks at University Hospital Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9616/22]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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797. To ask the Minister for Health the number of patients currently on the endoscopy waiting list for longer than 26 weeks at University Hospital Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9617/22]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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798. To ask the Minister for Health the number of patients currently waiting on the endoscopy waiting list for longer than 52 weeks at University Hospital Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9618/22]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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828. To ask the Minister for Health the number of patients currently waiting on the endoscopy waiting list for longer than 39 weeks at University Hospital Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9825/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 795, 796, 797, 798 and 828 together.

It is recognised that waiting times for scheduled appointments and procedures have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. While significant work continues to positively impact on waiting times and improve pathways to elective care, acute hospitals have been impacted by operational challenges arising from surges in cases related to the Delta and Omicron variants.

The HSE has confirmed to the Department that 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 Department of Health continues to work with the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to identify ways to improve access to care, including through increased use of private hospitals, funding weekend and evening work in public hospitals, funding “see and treat” services, providing virtual clinics, and increasing capacity in the public hospital system.

€350m is being allocated in 2022 to the HSE and the NTPF to primarily provide additional public and private activity to further stabilise and reduce scheduled care waiting lists and waiting times in tandem with bringing forward much needed longer-term reforms. This will supplement the core activity of the HSE as detailed in the HSE National Service Plan (NSP) 2022.

The 2022 waiting list action plan, which will be launched shortly, builds on the successes of the short-term 2021 plan that ran from September to December last year. The 2021 plan was developed by the Department of Health, the HSE and the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) and was driven and overseen by a senior governance group co-chaired by the Secretary General of the Department and the CEO of the HSE and met fortnightly. This rigorous level of governance and scrutiny of waiting lists has continued into this year with the oversight group evolving into the Waiting List Task Force. It has produced a comprehensive 2022 waiting list action plan which will set out high-level targets for waiting list improvement including dedicated funding for service reform, patient pathway improvement, and important significant additionality to substantially reduce the backlog of patients waiting. The taskforce will meet regularly to drive progress of the 2022 plan.

This is the first stage of an ambitious Multi-Annual Waiting List Plan, which is currently under development in my Department. Between them, these plans will work to support short, medium, and long term initiatives to reduce waiting times and provide the activity needed in years to come.

The data requested by the Deputy regarding the Endoscopy waiting list at University Hospital Kerry is outlined in the attached document which provides the waiting list for G.I.Scopes by time band on 27 Jan 2022. This information is also available on the NTPF website at:

G.I. Endoscopy Waiting List at University Hospital Kerry at 27/01/2022

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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799. To ask the Minister for Health the details of National Treatment Purchase Fund funding that was allocated in 2020, 2021 and to date in 2022 which has yet to be drawn down in respect of procedures to reduce the endoscopy waiting list at University Hospital Kerry; the dates of the allocations, the amount of funding involved and the number of procedures this funding would be expected to cover; if follow-up in respect of any failure to draw down the funding took place; if a reason for the failure to drawdown same has been provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9619/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) works with public hospitals, as opposed to with patients directly, to offer and provide the funding for treatment to clinically suitable long waiting patients who are on an inpatient/day case waiting list for surgery, having been referred on to such a list following clinical assessment by a consultant/specialist at an outpatient clinic.

The key criteria of the NTPF is the prioritisation of the longest waiting patients first. While the NTPF identifies patients eligible for NTPF treatment, it is solely on the basis of their time spent on the Inpatient/Daycase Waiting List. The clinical suitability of the patient to avail of NTPF funded treatment is determined by the public hospital.

In relation to the particular query raised by the Deputy, the NTPF has outlined in the attached tables, the number of GI Scope treatments arranged for patients on the GI waiting list at University Hospital Kerry (UHK) and the numbers of patients treated through insourcing and outsourcing in 2020 and 2021. The NTPF has advised that to date in 2022, no GI Scope treatments have been arranged for patients on the UHK GI waiting list.

In terms of activity, in 2020 136 GI Scopes were arranged through insourcing activity, with 124 patients treated. There was no outsourcing activity for GI Scopes in 2020. In 2021 treatment for 321 patients was arranged through insourcing, with 262 patients treated, while treatment for 215 patients was arranged through outsourcing, with 200 patients treated. This information is set out in the attached table, provided to my Department by the NTPF.

The NTPF has advised that a difference between the number of treatments arranged and the number of patients treated arises as patients can decline offers of treatment for a number of reasons, including because they want to remain with the public hospital, they are not clinically suitable for treatment, they no longer require treatment, or have been treated.

In 2020 €108,800 was paid to UHK for insourced GI Scope activity, while in 2021 €256,800 was paid to UHK for insourced scope activity. The NTPF has advised my Department that under outsourcing arrangements the NTPF pays the private hospitals directly and as such there is no funding allocated to the public hospitals themselves.