Move to reduce waiting times for mayo patients

MANAGEMENT of Mayo General Hospital has been instructed to produce a clearance plan to reduce waiting times for patients awaiting inpatient and day care treatment at the facility.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar said improving waiting times for scheduled care for patients is a key priority for the government.

He continued: 'In January, taking into account current pressures on acute hospital services, I put in place maximum permissible waiting times for in-patient and day case treatment and out-patient appointments of 18 months by June 30 and 15 months by year end. The HSE was provided with additional funding of €51 million to ensure that these maximum waiting times would be achieved.

'In June, the HSE reported a performance against the 18-month maxima of 99.6% for in-patient/day cases and 92% for out-patients.

'In order to maintain progress and to make further improvements to achieve a 15-month maxima by the end of December, the HSE has directed that hospitals which breached the 18-month maximum waiting time in August are to be fined. The fines will be calculated on the basis of the activity-based funding cost of each procedure and are being imposed

'The HSE, in conjunction with hospital groups, is focused on delivering these targets through maximising use of internal capacity within and across hospital groups in the first instance. Hospitals have been requested to produce clearance plans in this regard.'

The minister was responding to a question from Mayo Fine Gael Deputy Michelle Mulherin.