Waiting lists for hospital procedures 'starting to stabilise' after lockdown pause

The PAC heard that day-case surgery figures increased by 30% during the lockdown, but that some progress had been made to stabilise waiting lists since elective procedures began again. Picture: iStock

The agency set up to tackle growing waiting lists in the health service has signalled that delays are beginning to stabilise since surgery and elective procedures resumed.

A three-month pause in elective procedures during the emergency phase of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a significant increase in the number of people waiting for hospital appointments.

The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) confirmed at the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee that day-case surgery figures increased by 30%, or 20,000, during the lockdown phase of the public health crisis, outpatient appointments increased by 11% to 612,000 patients, and the number of people waiting for an endoscope increased by 50% to 34,000.

NTPF chief executive Liam Sloyan said that since elective procedures had recommenced, some progress had been made to stabilise waiting lists and that he hoped this would continue, with record funding of €130m for 2021.

On inpatient day case waiting lists, Mr Sloyan said: “Since we have been able to restart, that has reduced by approximately 10,000. The increase is now at approximately 15%, or 10,000, up on where it was at the start of the pandemic.”

On outpatient waiting lists, he said: “The number is starting to stabilise. 

Over the months, we were looking at increases of approximately 10,000 per month, but in the last month it was around 1,000.

Separately, the NTPF was asked about how it prices places under the Fair Deal nursing home scheme, and why factors like the quality of care or availability of services are not factored into negotiations with operators.

NTPF officials stressed that its remit was solely focussed on negotiating a “maximum price” and not on care or service issues, which fall to the Health Information and Quality Authority, the Ombudsman, the Consumer Protection Commission, and the HSE.

Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy said the absence of a pricing model made it “unclear as to how a final charge rate is arrived at for an individual home”.

In response to recommendations from the C&AG, the NTPF confirmed that new internal guidelines and procedures manual on pricing were being developed, and would be finalised in a “matter of weeks”.

In response to calls for an independent review process where nursing home negotiations reach an impasse, Mr Sloyan said it was not possible to outsource reviews under the current legislation.

Mr Sloyan confirmed 38 reviews had been managed internally since 2009, at an average rate of two reviews per annum since 2014.