Tackling hospital waiting lists a 'significant challenge', Sláintecare report says

Almost a fifth of Ireland’s five million people are on hospital waiting lists. File photo

Tackling hospital waiting lists is described as a “significant challenge” in the Sláintecare Progress Report 2021, with a waiting lists reform programme being worked on.

The report, published on Tuesday ahead of questioning at the Oireachtas health committee on Slaintecare on Wednesday, also highlights delays to hospital construction planned for Cork, Galway and Dublin.

The reform programme was hit by a series of resignations last year including council chairman Professor Tom Keane and executive director Laura Magahy. The Sláintecare Implementation Advisory Council was later dissolved and replaced by smaller groups.

There was a short-term waiting list action plan (September-December 2021), which was superseded by the 2022 waiting list action plan. That will, in turn, be superseded by the waiting lists reform programme, the report said.

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Waiting lists hit over 893,000 in January, including over 98,000 children, meaning about 17% of Ireland’s five million people are on hospital waiting lists.

Wednesday's health committee will focus on the oversight of Sláintecare, including submissions from Department of Health secretary-general Robert Watt and HSE CEO Paul Reid.

Both men are involved in the waiting lists plans and will be part of a new task force, the Department of Health report states.

Many of last year's resignations were due to frustration with the delays in setting up regional health areas. This process is described as facing “minor challenges” in the latest update.

It also states business plans for the elective hospitals will be submitted to the minister in “early 2022”. It shows the design teams were due to be appointed before the end of last year, but as the business plans and sites are not signed off on, this has been delayed.

Rollout of the National Cancer Information System (NCIS) in Cork and Kerry was delayed by last year's cyberattack and Covid-19, the report says.

It says an additional 42 critical care, 813 acute and 73 sub-acute beds were funded and opened across 2020-2021. A further nine primary care centres were opened bringing the total to 147, with 28 more under construction.

It says actions are focused on two reform streams; to improve safe and timely access to care, as well as addressing health inequalities.

“There were 228 deliverables across 11 projects in the two reform programmes, of which 200 (87.7%) have been progressed on track or with minor challenges. 28 (12.3%) progressed with significant challenges,” the report states.

GPs made direct referrals for over 138,000 radiology scans for patients under a new diagnostics programme.