The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) have today (16 November 2018) published the waiting list numbers to the end of October and an update on the 2018 Inpatient Day Case Access Plan. The update outlines progress in arranging treatment for patients waiting for elective surgery and the waiting list data includes details on patients who are waiting for an inpatient, day case or outpatient appointment at the end of October. Details on the number of patients waiting for a GI Endoscopy to month end is also provided.
Commenting on this month’s figures and on the update, Minister Harris said “I am pleased to see that the number of patients waiting for an Inpatient or Day case procedure has fallen again this month, to 72,000, from a peak of 86,100 in July 2017. This represents a 16% reduction in the overall number of patients waiting for an inpatient or day case procedure. In addition there has been a 38% reduction in the number of patients waiting over 9 months.
“The ongoing collaboration between the HSE and NTPF has led to improvements to the Waiting Lists for particular specialties, for example since July 2017 there has been: an 82% reduction in the number of patients waiting over 9 months for a Cataract procedure; a 74% reduction in the number waiting over 9 months for a tonsillectomy and an 83% reduction in patients waiting over 9 months for an angiogram.
“We accept there is more work to be done and that is why in Budget 2019 the Government has further increased investment in this area. Funding to the NTPF will increase from €55 million in 2018 to €75 million in 2019. As a result, the number of patients waiting for a hospital procedure is projected to fall to below 59,000 by the end of 2019.”
The monthly data is summarised here.
As can be seen from the data, the total number of patients waiting for an Inpatient/Daycase procedure has fallen by 1% since last month. The total number of patients waiting for a first outpatient appointment has increased by 0.2%.
The biggest impact can be seen in those waiting more than 9 months with all three categories falling month on month.
The waiting list movement for high volume procedures from July 2017 to end October is set out below.
ENDS
Notes to the Editor
Pre-Admit, Planned Procedures and Suspensions lists
The NTPF waiting list data also reports data on the Pre-Admit, Planned Procedures and Suspensions lists.
Almost 27,000 patients who have a scheduled date for their admission are categorised as “TCI” or “To Come In”
Over 12,200 patients are temporarily suspended from the waiting list. These are patients who, for clinical, personal or social reasons, are not ready to proceed with their care and/or treatment may be temporarily suspended on the waiting list. The Suspension category is also used where patients are being processed through various Insourcing or Outsourcing Initiatives.
Over 72,200 patients are on the Planned Procedure list and over 48,000 of these patients have indicative dates in the future. This category comprises those patients who have had treatment and require additional treatment at a future date (e.g. a patient who has had a scope may require surveillance monitoring scopes in the future). Patients on the Planned Procedure list are assigned indicative dates for treatment. These indicative dates are determined by the clinician and treatment before these dates would not be appropriate.
Appendix 1: Inpatient/Daycase Action Plan – Waiting List movement for High Volume Procedures – July 2017 to End October*