Waiting lists for surgical procedures in the State's hospitals will be officially replaced by a new national patient treatment register that was rolled out for seven hospitals today.
The Patient Treatment Register (PTR) will be a national database of patients waiting for hospital treatment. It will provide, for the first time, accurate information about the number of patients waiting for particular procedures and the actual waiting times for surgery.
The database will be managed by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) and promises a "complete and accurate picture of hospital waiting lists in Ireland".
The seven hospitals now on the system in its first phase are the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin; Tallaght Hospital; Beaumont Hospital; St James's Hospital; St Vincent's University Hospital; St John's Hospital, Limerick; and Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown.
According to the NTPF, these hospitals accounted for around 40 per cent of the total number of patients on national waiting lists under the old system.
Some 4,944 people are waiting for a surgical procedure (including 628 day cases that were not previously recorded), compared to 9,106 reported under the old system for the same hospitals in January 2004.
Waiting times for the most common surgical procedures are now down to between two and four months, according to figures released today. The number of patients waiting between six and 12 months has been halved, the NTPF said.
Patients will now be able to access detailed information about the top surgical procedures and the top waiting times for each. Each patient will receive a PTR card so they have all the information necessary if they opt for treatment under the fund.
The NTPF was set up by the Government to buy spare treatment capacity in private hospitals to reduce the numbers on public hospital waiting lists.
Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney said: "The Patient Treatment Register is a new way of putting patients first in the way we provide elective treatments in our hospitals. People will have better information and choice about their treatment.
"With their GPs, they will have a stronger role in decisions about their own treatment."
NTPF chairwoman Maureen P Lynott said the register was "accessible, informative, accurate, standardised and, most of all, empowers patients".