Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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93. To ask the Minister for Health the action that will be taken to reduce waiting times for primary care waiting lists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34616/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Improving timely access to healthcare for all by reducing and reforming waiting lists, including primary care waiting lists, is a key focus of the Path to Universal Healthcare: Slaintecare and Programme for Government 2025+ and I fully acknowledge that there is an urgent need to reduce waiting times and waiting lists for primary care services and to improve consistency of patient experience regardless of location. In line with the Programme for Government commitments to build capacity in primary care therapy services, a programmatic approach to address primary care waiting lists has been developed jointly by the Department of Health, and the HSE.

This programmatic approach involves three main workstreams: Workstream 1 aims to deliver improved analysis of primary care therapy activity and productivity to maximise capacity within existing resources.

Acknowledging that there is a need for shorter-term measures to address the current scale of waiting lists, Workstream 2 focuses on the development of measures, at a national level, to address patients waiting more than a year to access primary care therapy services. At present, proposals are being examined to address the national waiting lists for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech & language therapy.

The focus of Workstream 3 is developing a Primary Care Therapy Waiting List Management Protocol to ensure that a consistent and transparent approach to referral, waiting list management and discharge of patients is applied across the primary care therapies in all Community Healthcare Networks (CHNs) thus improving overall patient experience. Workstream 3 is being supported through the joint Health Research Board/Department of Health ‘Evidence for Policy’ programme.

In 2024, a research team was appointed to develop a comprehensive, evidence-based protocol to ensure a consistent and transparent approach to referral, waiting list management and discharge of patients is applied across primary care therapies in all HSE Health Regions thus improving overall patient experience.

It is expected that this programmatic approach will, for the first time, put in place considerable standardised infrastructure to support systematic responses to primary care waiting lists and facilitate a greater understanding of the scale of demand, the drivers of demand and will, very importantly, allow for more timely access, improved planning, interventions, investment considerations, enhanced productivity, and the most efficient use of capacity.