Average wait time for public patients to see a consultant fell by two months last year

Public patients waited an average of 7½ months to see a consultant last year, more than two months less than in the previous year, according to a briefing to Cabinet.

Overall hospital waiting lists fell in 2023 on the back of a €443 million allocation in Budget 2023 to address delays in the system.

This was the second year in a row that waiting lists declined, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will tell fellow Ministers on Tuesday. The last time waiting lists fell was in 2015.

The outpatient waiting list shrank by 4 per cent last year, despite attendances by patients being 8 per cent higher than projected.

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In an update for Cabinet, Mr Donnelly will say significant progress was made during 2023 in reducing the length of time people wait for care. The critical metric to measuring progress toward the provision of timely care for patients is not the total number of people waiting, he will say, but the number waiting longer than target times.

A 10 per cent reduction in the number of patients waiting longer than the 10-12 weeks set out in the Sláintecare reform plan was targeted last year. This figure was just exceeded, with an 11 per cent drop recorded. This means 57,000 fewer people are waiting longer than the agreed target times, the Minister will tell Cabinet.

Hospitals were busier last year, with 177,000 more patients removed from waiting lists compared with 2022, he says.

Since a peak reached during the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a 27 per cent fall in the number of patients waiting longer than target times, equivalent to 170,000 people.

The number of people waiting more than 12 months to see a consultant fell by almost one-third last year.

An additional 322,000 patients were added to waiting lists last year compared with 2019, with the increased demand being attributed to population growth, immigration and the ageing of the population, as well as other factors such as new services, greater GP access to tests and pent-up demand following the pandemic.

At the end of December, one in seven patients on the waiting list were waiting longer than the Sláintecare targets.

A fuller picture of the waiting lists is expected to emerge on Friday when the December figures for inpatient and outpatient waiting lists are published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

Meanwhile, 431 patients were waiting for admission to a hospital bed on Monday morning and a further 503 were being accommodated in surge beds, according to the HSE. Pressure on hospitals is expected to intensify in the coming days as winter waves of flu and Covid-19 peak.

Separately, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys will bring a memo to Cabinet that will give effect to the Government decision taken before Christmas to reduce welfare payments for Ukrainians. Under this legislation, Ukrainians will now receive the Daily Expense Allowance of €38.80 per week down from the current jobseekers rate of €232 per week.

The legislation will also provide that those receiving the new weekly payment will be required to engage with the Department of Social Protection’s Public Employment Services (Intreo) where they will receive trainings and skills support to help them into employment.

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