David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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663. To ask the Minister for Health the detail of his plans to put Sláintecare maximum wait times on a statutory basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17462/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The 2022 waiting list action plan, which I launched on the 25th of February, allocates €350 million to the HSE and NTPF to reduce waiting lists by 18% this year which will bring the number of people waiting to their lowest point in five years. Projections for 2022 show that over 1.5 million patients will be added to active waiting lists this year. Many people stayed away from the health service during the pandemic and, as these people come forward for treatment it will place huge additional demand on health services. Under the Waiting List Action Plan, the Department HSE and NTPF will deliver urgent additional capacity to treat 1.7 million people as well as investing in longer term reforms to bring sustained reductions in waiting lists.

In addition to reducing waiting list volumes and implementing reforms, the 2022 Plan will also progress work towards achieving maximum waiting time targets. 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. The Sláintecare Report sets out the following recommended maximum waiting time targets for acute scheduled care to be achieved in the long-term that have been adopted as Government targets: no patient should wait longer than 10 weeks for outpatients/assessments; 12 weeks for inpatients / day cases; and 10 days for diagnostics.

However, given the historically long waiting times for scheduled care and the impact of the pandemic, the numbers of people now waiting for treatment and diagnostics far exceed these stated targets. The 2022 Plan will progress practical work towards the achievement of these maximum waiting targets through a phased approach and the delivery of intermediate targets this year, while also seeking to improve and increase capacity and productivity to deliver an immediate and medium-term reduction in waiting list numbers. The 2022 Waiting List Action Plan will progress intermediate waiting time targets this year, as set out in the 2022 National Service Plan of: by end-December 2022,  98% of all patients on our waiting list will wait less than 18 months for their first outpatients appointment (OPD) and 12 months for their procedure (IPDC and GI scopes). The Plan also focuses on 15 high volume inpatient day case procedures, including cataracts and hip and knee replacements, so that every person waiting over 6 months for one of these procedures, and who is clinically ready will receive an offer of treatment via the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).

In total, the 2022 Plan details 45 actions to reduce and reform waiting lists. One of these actions is to develop and agree a multi-annual waiting list reduction plan to support the achievement of the Government maximum wait time targets. As part of this action consideration will be given to decisions relating to codifying such targets in legislation to complement the practical work already underway via other actions in the Plan to achieve these targets.