Hospital waiting lists see 1% fall in three months

The number of people on hospital waiting lists declined by less than one per cent to 24,850 between the end of march and the end of December. The fall in the year since June 2001 was 7 per cent.

In a statement accompanying the figures which were due to be published in mid-September, the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, said the department had set out to standardise the reporting of waiting lists. The Opposition had accused the Government of "deliberately withholding the figures".

The figures issued this afternoon show significant reductions in some areas. The number of people waiting for ear, nose and throat procedures has fallen by 1,377 to 3,563 in the year to June 2002. The number waiting for vascular operations fell by 341 over the same period to 1,903.

The numbers waiting for surgery dropped by just over 4 per cent 3,252 in the year, while the numbers awaiting cardiac surgery dropped by almost 40 per cent to 273.

However, the number of patients waiting for procedures including opthalmology and neurosurgery increased. There are now 388 more people waiting for opthalmology procedures with a total of 3,243. Some 520 people are waiting for neurosurgery, a rise of 96.

Commenting on the waiting lists, Mr Martin said there has been a significant reduction in the more of adults waiting more than one year for treatment.

Labour Party health spokesperson, Ms Liz McManus TD described the reduction in hospital waiting lists as "pathetic" at said it makes a mockery of Fianna Fail's solemn promise to the Irish people to abolish waiting lists by 2004.

"A reduction of 22 per cent in the numbers waiting longer that twelve months makes it next to impossible to achieve the elimination of these numbers by the end of this year. It is also unclear from these figures how many children are waiting longer than twelve months for treatment", said Deputy McManus.

Waiting lists in two health boards, the northwest and northeast both increased by nearly 9 per cent on the year. The number of people waiting for procedures in the Eastern Regional Health Authority, declined marginally to 15,923.

Mr Martin said he was confident that funding provided for the National Purchase Treatment Fund (NPTF) and the waiting list initiative would continue to reduce the number of people waiting for a long time.

As of November 1st, more than 1,000 patients had been treated under the scheme although these have not impacted on the latest waiting list figures.

The fund has identified 6,805 adults and 1,500 children who have been waiting for more than a year will receive treatment by the end of 2003 in the first phase of the scheme.