Catherine Callaghan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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88. To ask the Minister for Health her plans to tackle waiting times for outpatient appointments and planned surgical appointments. [9876/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I am committed to improving access to hospital care and reducing waiting times for patients through a range of initiatives. This includes measures aimed at increasing capacity such as the establishment of elective hospitals and surgical hubs.

I want to ensure we have a public health service where everyone has timely access to high-quality care, where and when they need it.

The Waiting List Action Plan 2025 is an important milestone in that journey. The Plan sets out four key targets all focused on reducing hospital waiting times by the end of the year, including:

• Further reducing the proportion of longer waiters and average waiting times; and
• Having 50% of patients waiting within the Sláintecare waiting time targets, namely 10 weeks for outpatients and 12 weeks for inpatients and day cases.

• Up to the end of 2024, we had achieved an approximately 25% reduction in the number of people on the waiting lists who are waiting longer than the Sláintecare targets.
• Over the same period, we also reduced the weighted average waiting time for outpatients from 12.8 months to 6.8 months.