Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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829.To ask the Minister for Health the length of the waiting list and how much it currently costs to receive cataract surgery under the Health Service Executive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25276/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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It is acknowledged that many patients are still waiting too long for hospital appointments and treatments.

As part of the multi-annual approach to reducing waiting lists, and just as importantly the length of time that patients are waiting, I published the 2024 Waiting List Action Plan on 27th March. Total funding of €360 million has been provided for the plan this year which sets out 19 Actions across three themes: Delivering Capacity, Reforming Scheduled Care and Enabling Scheduled Care Reform.

The Waiting List Action Plan multi-annual approach, initiated in 2021, encompasses a two-pronged approach of short-term actions to increase capacity and activity in the immediate term, and longer-term reform measures to sustainably reduce and reform hospital waiting lists and waiting times.

The 2024 Plan builds on the work of previous plans which have achieved significant progress in overall waiting list reduction and in addressing long waiting times, against a backdrop of significantly increased demand for scheduled care services. This year’s plan aims to achieve a reduction in the overall number of patients on waiting lists while three of the four overarching targets in the Plan are specifically focused on improving waiting times.

The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) have advised my Department that there were 5,678 patients on the Inpatient and Day Case waiting list for treatment for cataracts at the end of May 2024. With regard to how much it currently costs to receive cataract surgery under the Health Service Executive (HSE), as this is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.