Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

838. To ask the Minister for Health the number of cataract surgeries carried out in Cork hospitals in 2024; the average waiting time for surgery; and the number of patients currently awaiting procedures in 2025. [51154/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is acknowledged that many patients are still waiting too long for hospital appointments and treatments. I am conscious of the burden that this places on patients and their families.

I published the Waiting List Action Plan (WLAP) for 2025 in February, representing this Government’s commitment to reducing waiting times for patients and improving access to hospital care.

In keeping with this commitment, significant funding of €420m was allocated to the Waiting List Action Plan for 2025, €190m for the HSE and €230m for the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).

With the 2025 plan, we are continuing to build upon the progress delivered to date under the multi annual action plan approach, progressing towards the ultimate vision of a public healthcare service in which everyone has timely access to high-quality scheduled care, where and when they need it.

In relation to the particular queries raised by the Deputy about patients waiting for cataract surgery, the information at the link below, provided to my Department by the NTPF sets out the number of patients waiting for cataract surgery in public hospitals in Cork as at end August 2025, by time band and the average length of time that those patients have been waiting. In respect of the average waiting times, it should be noted that the NTPF collects data on patients on waiting lists at a point in time and the average time that these patients have been waiting is provided at the link.

In relation to the particular query raised regarding the number of cataract surgeries carried out in Cork Hospitals in 2024, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

839. To ask the Minister for Health the average waiting times in Cork hospitals for hip replacement surgery, cataract surgery, and MRI scans; and the measures being taken to reduce backlogs. [51165/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is acknowledged that many patients are still waiting too long for hospital appointments and treatments. I am conscious of the burden that this places on patients and their families.

I published the Waiting List Action Plan (WLAP) for 2025 in February, representing this Government’s commitment to reducing waiting times for patients and improving access to hospital care.

In keeping with this commitment, significant funding of €420m was allocated to the Waiting List Action Plan for 2025, €190m for the HSE and €230m for the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).

With the 2025 plan, we are continuing to build upon the progress delivered to date under the multi annual action plan approach, progressing towards the ultimate vision of a public healthcare service in which everyone has timely access to high-quality scheduled care, where and when they need it.

In relation to the particular queries raised by the Deputy about patients waiting for cataract and hip-replacement surgery, the information at the links below, provided to my Department by the NTPF sets out the average length of time patients have been waiting for cataract surgery and hip-replacement surgery in Cork hospitals at the end of August 2025. In respect of the average waiting times, it should be noted that the NTPF collects data on patients on waiting lists at a point in time and the average time that these patients have been waiting is provided at the links.

With regard to waiting times for radiology and diagnostic services, which have been recognised as an issue for some time. This year the Productivity and Savings Taskforce published an action plan for 2025 which commits to a range of services being available 7 days a week, including diagnostics activity. It will also ensure that all publicly funded diagnostics are captured in the National Integrated Medical Imaging System (NIMIS) by the end of 2025, thereby improving care coordination and reducing duplication of tests and procedures.

The NTPF is working to support access to radiology and in October 2024 it published a National Radiology Diagnostic Waiting List Management Protocol. As well as ensuring that patients seeking access to Radiology Diagnostic services are administratively managed in a safe, timely, fair, and equitable manner whilst waiting, the protocol will facilitate improved data collection and reporting about patients on Radiology Diagnostic waiting lists.

In the interim, the information that is currently being collected as part of a pilot project is being tested and validated at hospital, hospital region and national level and as such should not be used/reported without the context of the caveats set out below:

• Data is subject to inclusions and exclusions which are documented in the Data Profile Document. This document is available from Acute Operations and has been circulated to all Hospital Regions.
• Data contains urgent, routine and surveillance/planned activity which is currently not broken down in detail, as such this includes surveillance/planned activity which may not be exceeding planned date.
• Data is still undergoing validation at Hospital and Hospital Region level. Data does not take into account local nuances at site level (Site profile developed to support understanding of same).
• The purpose of this aggregate data is to provide a National Level overview of the number of patients waiting for modalities of CT, MRI and Ultrasound.
• This report is not intended to be used for the active management of hospital diagnostics waiting list, local reports and mechanisms should continue to be used for the management of diagnostics waiting lists at hospital level.