Health Minister hits back over waiting lists: 'I find it difficult to take lectures from a party that reduced the number of hospital beds'

Health Minister Simon Harris has denied he is failing to meet his own hospital waiting list targets after it emerged almost 1m people are waiting for vital treatment and services because of serious logjams in the system.

Mr Harris, at the launch of the Sláintecare report, rejected Fianna Fáil claims he is “failing” to do his job. The opposition party demanded he set up a national waiting lists centre to end the years of patient delays.

Mr Harris admitted the number of people unable to access the help they need is a serious cause of concern.

His comments came after Fianna Fáil revealed almost 1m people are on hospital waiting lists around the country.

Criticising Fianna Fáil for what he said was its decision to release the figures at the same time as the Sláintecare report launch, Mr Harris rejected claims he is failing to address the scandal and said he will not be “lectured” by the rival party.

Asked if he agrees that the scale of the number of people facing waiting list delays means he is failing to do his job, Mr Harris replied: “No, I don’t.”

Mr Harris said when asked if he agrees the scale of the number of people facing waiting list delays means he is failing to do his job.

“Do I share the frustration of everyone that we need to do better in terms of waiting times? Of course, I do.

“But I find it difficult to take lectures from a party that reduced the number of hospital beds.

"But I am all about new politics and I want to work on a cross-party basis to reform health service.

“I am sure it is not coincidental Fianna Fáil decided to add up lots of figures that were publicly available today on the day that we are launching this plan. That’s fine. That’s the way it [politics] works.

“I am more interested in figuring out what we are going to do to solve it. If you are going to work tomorrow, you don’t ask how many cars are on the M50, you ask how long you are going to be on the M50 to get to work.”

Mr Harris’s comments came after Fianna Fáil yesterday revealed almost 1m people are on hospital waiting lists.

Health Minister @SimonHarrisTD rejects Fianna Fail accusations he is failibg to meet his own waiting list targets at Slaintecare launch, saying "I find it difficult to take lectures" from a party that cut bed capacity and other services. #iestaff pic.twitter.com/SVLkskGhBi

— Fiachra Ó Cionnaith 😊 (@Ocionnaith) August 8, 2018

The 997,258 figure includes:

511,415 on outpatient lists;

135,034 on diagnostic lists;

78,016 on inpatient/day case lists;

31,381 on occupational therapy lists.

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland programme, Fianna Fáil deputy leader Dara Calleary said the only way to address the crisis is to set up a waiting list centre to ensure greater transparency on where the system problems exist.

He rejected Mr Harris’s claim that Fianna Fáil is offering no solutions, and said the fact Sláintecare’s implementation plan is only being published 15 months after the report was released “shows how far down the priority list this is for Government”.