Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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47. To ask the Minister for Health if he is aware that an organisation (details supplied) recently stated that the three main hospital waiting lists may increase by over 74,700 by the end of 2024 if current trends continue, an increase of 11% compared with the start of the year, and that the HSE’s 2024 waiting list targets are increasingly unlikely to be met; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39361/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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It is acknowledged that acute hospital waiting lists are too long, and that many patients are waiting an unacceptably long time for care.

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 the 27th of 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.

To date in 2024, additions to the waiting lists have been higher than projected. Whilst the volume target is proving a challenge driven by the rate of additions to the waiting lists, strong progress is being made in relation to the length of time patients are waiting for appointments for consultations and procedures.

There has been an 18% reduction in patients waiting over 12 months in the last year, building on the progress seen in 2022 and 2023, and the average waiting time for an OPD appointment has halved in the last 3 years.

The HSE has attributed the increases in waiting list additions to both demographic (for example: population growth, aging population) and non-demographic challenges (for example: increased awareness of services, new service developments, chronic disease and pent-up demand post COVID-19 pandemic). Increased pressure in Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC), can also impact on the availability of access to scheduled care. Both the HSE and the Department are monitoring these activity metrics and the associated targets from the 2024 WLAP.

Addressing waiting lists and times remains one of my top priorities, and we will continue to focus on this in 2025.

It is noted that the organisation referred to by the Deputy, indicates that their projections for waiting list volumes at the end of 2024 are based on an analysis of waiting list figures in the first seven months of the year. However, there are a number of factors which must also be factored into any projections of waiting list performance, including for example, seasonal trends in previous years.