The Department of Health said new waiting list figures published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) on May 2024 demonstrated continued progress over the past year, as a result of the multi-annual action plan approach to tackling rising waiting lists and long wait times.
“Since the pandemic peaks, there has been a c.25% reduction in the number of people waiting longer than the Sláintecare targets, which equates to approximately 156,000 people.”
The Department said the average waiting time had reduced by 1.7 months compared to the same time last year.
“We now have 471,406 people waiting longer than the Sláintecare targets, while 233,831 patients are waiting within that target.
“As at the end of May 2024:
- 52,646 people are exceeding the 12-week IPDC target which is a c.1% increase compared to the end of last month and a c.1% increase in comparison to the end of May 2023.
- 9,502 people are exceeding the 12-week GI Scope target which is a c.3% increase compared to the end of last month, and a c.9% decrease compared to the end of May 2023.
- 409,258 people are exceeding the 10-week OPD target, which is an increase of c.1% compared to last month. However, this is a decrease of c.6% in comparison to the end of May 2023.
“The 2024 Waiting List Action Plan (WLAP) is targeting an 8% increase in OPD activity compared to 2023 outturn. This will have a consequent impact on referrals to IPDC lists, but through increased activity and productivity measures, the number of patients on these lists who are exceeding the Sláintecare wait time targets is targeted to decrease by 10%.
“As of the end of May, there were 705,237 patients on the total hospital waiting lists, 5,222 less than this time last year. Removals from the waiting list are 5.1k higher than target, however additions are 20,000 higher than target; this results in the waiting list being 14,900 above target year to date. In the earlier part of the year, hospitals experienced increased pressures in urgent and emergency care, with significant increases in emergency department attendances compared with the same period in 2023. Increased pressure in urgent and emergency care can impact on the availability of access to scheduled care. Both the HSE and the Department are monitoring these activity metrics and the associated targets from the 2024 WLAP, and this process will continue through the course of the year.
“Despite the significant challenges from the aftermath of the pandemic, emergency department pressures, and other operational factors such as recruitment, our hospitals have delivered improvements which are making a real difference to patients. Many individual hospitals have delivered impressive reductions in both their waiting lists and waiting times. For example, in Cork University Hospital, the OPD Rheumatology waiting list has reduced by 55% from April 2023 to April 2024 and an additional 237 patients have been seen year to date.
“In Galway University Hospital, an additional 752 patients have been removed from the Endocrinology waiting list year to date, and the waiting list has reduced by 73% from April 2023 to April 2024. Also, additional staffing is in place to enhance capacity to support Gastro-Enterology GI Scope services in St. Vincent’s University Hospital, which has committed to removing 3,000 patients from the Gastro Enterology waiting list annually. The waiting list has reduced by 91% since April 2023 from 471 to 43 patients at the end of April 2024. The HSE is currently working to replicate the impact of these initiatives across all hospitals.
The latest hospital activity report published monthly by the HSE and is available online, gives regular insight into acute activity levels, with millions of patients being seen and treated annually within our hospital service. For the most recently available 12 months of data, covering March 2023 to February 2024, there were c.3.7 million outpatient and c.1.9 million IPDC attendances. In addition to this planned (‘scheduled’) care, our hospital system also treated c.1.7 million patients during this same period in emergency (‘unscheduled’) care, which represents a 4.2% increase on the full year 2022 and reflects the continuing demands on our hospitals.”
The Department said funding of €437 million had been allocated to address waiting lists in 2024. A total of €360 million of this funding had been provided for the 2024 WLAP, which included €179 million for the NTPF. Funding of €77 million had also been allocated for primary care/community-based initiatives. This included €3 million specifically to address waiting lists in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), which was a priority for the Minister for Health in 2024.
“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. As part of its progress update in May, the HSE has advised that activities (i.e. OPD, IPDC, etc) for gynaecology, the overweight and obesity pathway and paediatric orthopaedics (scoliosis and spina bifida) are broadly in line with or ahead of the targets set out in the WLAP.
“The 2024 WLAP aims to achieve an almost 6% reduction in the overall number of patients on waiting lists, an increase on the 2.7% reduction achieved last year. With the 2024 WLAP, the Department of Health, the HSE and the NTPF are taking the next steps in the multi-annual approach, including implementing Sláintecare targets through reducing the number of patients breaching the Sláintecare Wait Time Targets as of year-end 2023 by 10% and facilitating timely and transparent access to high-quality scheduled care, for everyone, where and when they need it.”
