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10,000 fewer patients on hospital waiting lists one year on – Minister Harris welcomes NTPF progress update

he Minister for Health Simon Harris has welcomed the progress update issued by the NTPF and the reductions achieved in the waiting lists for operations and procedures saying this progress will be built on in the second half of the year and in 2019.

The Government has increased investment in the NTPF to €50 million in 2018 because of the priority of reducing long waiting lists and times. Building on the progress achieved last year, there are now almost 10,000 fewer people waiting for hospital operations or procedures than in July last year. Significantly, the number of patients waiting longer than nine months has been reduced by almost 8,000.

The NTPF has achieved progress in targeting high volume procedures like cataracts, angiograms, skin lesions, hip/knee replacements, varicose veins, tonsillectomies and cystoscopies. For example in the last year the cataract waiting list has been reduced by almost 3,000. We are also undertaking new initiatives like the Nenagh Cataract Clinic which commenced this month. This new service is expected to deliver 250 extra cataract procedures this year and up to 10 times that next year.

We will be aiming to build on and increase this progress on the inpatient/day case waiting list in 2019. Undoubtedly the outpatient waiting list presents a significant challenge but we will be taking targeted actions on it in the same way as we have on the inpatient/day case list. My Department, the HSE and the NTPF are in the process of finalising an Outpatient Action Plan for the remainder of 2018. This plan will support the HSE’s compliance with their National Service Plan targets, reduce the growth in the number of patients waiting for outpatient services, improve the accuracy of the waiting list, and trial a number of NTPF funded interventions, including weekend and out of hours clinics.

Interim update report on the Inpatient Day Case Action Plan 2018.