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Ireland announces action plan on patients waiting lists

Xinhua, August 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Ireland on Wednesday announced an action plan to be implemented in the latter half of 2016 aimed at reducing the number of patients on waiting lists.

Under the plan, the government hopes to reduce the number of patients waiting for more than 18 months for inpatient/daycase procedure, by 50 percent by year-end.

Currently, new hospital waiting list figures show an increase in the number of adults and children waiting for inpatient and day case care.

In the public hospital system, there are currently 3,488 patients waiting inpatient/daycase procedure for more than 18 months with a further 3,909 due to reach this waiting time should they not be treated by year end.

Ireland's Health Service Executive (HSE) will commence immediately a program of clinical validation of all inpatient/daycase patients waiting more than 15 months, according to the plan.

The HSE is responsible for the provision of health and personal social services for everyone living in Ireland.

"This activity should be completed by the end of August and should lead to improved accuracy of lists and increased capacity for treating those patients waiting longest," said Irish Health Minister Simon Harris.

The Irish minister said the HSE will work with hospitals to roll out a new waiting list program in order to improve the capacity of hospitals to manage waiting lists in the longer term. Endit