Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 580 to 584, inclusive, together.

It is recognised that waiting times for many scheduled appointments and procedures are too long and continue to be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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.

The 2023 Waiting List Action Plan built on the foundational work done in previous plans, achieving significant progress in relation to waiting lists, including advancements made on overall waiting list reduction for the second year in a row, and progress made in addressing long waiting times.

The Department of Health is working with the HSE and the NTPF to finalise both the End of Year Report against the 2023 WLAP as well as the new WLAP 2024, which will take account of learnings from 2023 as well as the funding envelope provided for 2024.

With regard to the information requested by the Deputy, the NTPF has provided the data in the attached table which shows the number of children by time-band on the Neurology outpatient waiting list at CHI Crumlin at the end of December each year from 2016 to 2023 and at the end of January 2024.

Neurology Outpatient Waiting List at CHI Crumlin 2016 - January 2024