The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) have published the waiting list numbers to the end of September http://www.ntpf.ie/home/inpatient.htm. The waiting list data published by the NTPF includes details on patients who are waiting for an inpatient, day case or outpatient appointment at the end of September. Details on the number of patients waiting for a GI Endoscopy to month end is also provided.
Commenting on this month’s figures, the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, stated:
Irish patients want and deserve timely access to hospital procedures and appointments. The investment this Government has made in this area, through both the HSE and the NTPF, is delivering and I am pleased to see that the number of patients on waiting list has fallen again this month.
For inpatient and daycase procedures (IPDC), the number of patients on the waiting list now stands at 72,700. From the 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 and a 32% reduction in the number of patients waiting over 9 months.
In Budget 2019 the Government has further increased investment in this area, with funding to the NTPF 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 end 2019.
The monthly data can be summarised as follows:
Table 1: Total Patients on Active Waiting Lists
| Category | End
August 2018 | End September 2018 | Difference
# | Difference
% |
| IPDC | 74,189 | 72,718 | -1,471 | -2.0% |
| OPD | 514,585 | 515,547 | +962 | +0.2% |
| GI Endoscopy | 17,881 | 17,528 | -353 | -2.0% |
Table 2: Breakdown of Total Patients on Active Waiting Lists by time band
>3 Months >9 Months
| Category | End August | End Sept | Difference # | Difference % | End August | End Sept | Difference
# | Difference % |
| IPDC | 47,418 | 45,693 | -1,725 | -3.6% | 20,113 | 19,161 | -952 | -4.7% |
| OPD | 353,087 | 356,209 | +3,122 | +0.9% | 196,565 | 195,917 | -648 | -0.3% |
| GI Endoscopy | 8,360 | 8,082 | -278 | -3.3% | 1,912 | 1,842 | -70 | -3.7% |
As can be seen from the data, the total number of patients waiting for an Inpatient/Daycase procedure and a GI Scope has fallen by 2% 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 September is set out below.
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 29,000 patients who have a scheduled date for their admission are categorised as "TCI" or "To Come In"
Over 11,700 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 71,500 patients are on the Planned Procedure list and over 47,500 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.