Significant progress is being made in reducing the number of patients waiting long periods to see a hospital consultant or undergo a procedure, according to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.
While new figures last week showed more than 900,000 people are on some form of public hospital waiting list, Mr Donnelly said his focus was on “how many people are waiting too long for care”.
The number of people waiting for an outpatient appointment for 18 months or more has fallen 23 per cent this year, he noted. The number waiting more than 12 months for an inpatient procedure is down 14 per cent while there has been a 74 per cent drop in the number waiting more than 12 months for a gastrointestinal scope.
More than 80 per cent of patients waiting more than six months for specific high-volume procedures such as hip and knee operations have had care “authorised” by the National Treatment Purchase Fund, he said.
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Mr Donnelly was speaking at the opening of a new menopause clinic at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin where, he said, the number of women waiting for urgent gynaecological appointments for more than 12 months has dropped from about 900 to zero over the past year.
Waiting times for routine gynaecology appointments at the Rotunda have gone from 18 months to four months, he added, even though referrals were increasing.
At Tallaght University Hospital, the inpatient waiting list has fallen by 23 per cent and the number of waiting for long periods by 59 per cent since an elective day-case centre was opened near the hospital. Mr Donnelly wants to build six similar centres near main hospitals across the country and hopes this can be done within 12 months.
Less than half the €350 million allocated by Government for waiting list initiatives this year has been spent to date.
Mr Donnelly acknowledged the money will not all be completely spent by the end of the year. “I wish all was spent, but the Omicron wave pushed it off course and our ambitions for hiring staff are not going to be met.”
The Health Service Executive has nonetheless recruited a record additional 15,000 staff since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, he pointed out.
Asked about recruiting campaigns being run in Ireland by Australian health bodies, Mr Donnelly criticised “the narrative that everything is perfect in other countries”.
“I saw survey results that three in five nurses in Australia are afraid of making clinical errors with patients because they are so exhausted. The challenges we have here are being experienced in Australia and across the world.”
The new menopause clinic at the Rotunda aims to treat between 250 and 350 women a year. It is one of six that are being established nationally by the end of the year.
Consultant gynaecologist Dr Vicky O’Dwyer said the clinic will initially operate one day a week, seeing 14 patients in the morning and afternoon.
