Health | How much it is intended to reduce the numbers on hospital waiting lists by whatever means over the next twelve months

QUESTION

To ask the Minister for Health by how much it is intended to reduce the numbers on hospital waiting lists by whatever means over the next twelve months; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

REPLY

The challenge facing our acute hospital waiting lists is well recognised, and both the Government and I have acknowledged that waiting lists are too long and many patients on those lists are waiting too long to receive the care they need. In response to this, the first Waiting List Action Plan (WLAP) was implemented in late 2021, as part of a multi-annual approach encompassing short-term actions to increase capacity and activity in the immediate term, and longer-term reform measures to sustainably reduce and reform hospital waiting lists and waiting times.

The aim of the WLAP is to ensure that patients have more timely access to high-quality scheduled care in our acute hospitals and will improve patient outcomes and patient experiences of our healthcare service. It should be noted that each of the WLAPs to-date, beginning with 2021, have achieved reductions in overall waiting lists and the 2024 WLAP aims to build on this progress.

The 2024 WLAP– published in March – builds on the work done in previous plans and is targeting long waiters and a further 10% reduction in the number of patients breaching the Sláintecare Time Targets (as of year-end 2023). This year’s WLAP also has a target of reducing the overall waiting list volume by 6% by year end, to a closing position of 632,086. This would continue the trend of annual reductions in waiting lists in recent years and would represent a significantly larger reduction than the 2.7% achieved in 2023.

The WLAP 2024 is focused on a tighter set of 19 targeted actions aimed at maximising impact on our waiting lists, under the following three pillars:

• Delivering Capacity,
• Reforming Scheduled Care,
• Enabling Scheduled Care Reform.

Under the 2024 WLAP, the HSE and National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) are aiming to remove c. 1.81 million patients from active waiting lists. These activity targets are c. 5% above the 2023 out-turn, with a further 3% in outpatient (OPD) core and additional activity planned.

In addition, the 2024 WLAP includes a number of actions and initiatives aimed at reforming scheduled care, including the further rollout of Modernised Care Pathways; continued focus in addressing waiting lists for paediatric orthopaedics (spina bifida/scoliosis) and gynaecology; enhancing theatre optimisation; as well as implementing a number of enhanced productivity and efficiency measures for waiting list management, including the broader rollout of Patient Initiated Reviews (PIR) and Central Referrals.

In addition, through the work of the Productivity and Savings Task Force, further initiatives will be progressed to deliver additional care, which will also help to reduce waiting lists this year. For example, this will include considering opportunities for increased activity linked to the new public-only consultant contract, such as extra OPD clinics for new appointments.