The Minister for Health has claimed that hospital waiting lists in Donegal are going down.
Stephen Donnelly’s department yesterday issued a statement suggesting there are now 10,500 fewer patients on hospital waiting lists in the north-west at the end of 2023.
The Department of Health also claim that those waiting longest for treatment (over 12 months) saw significant reductions.
The statement claims the following milestones at Letterkenny University Hospital:
- 2,200 fewer patients on outpatient waiting lists at the end of 2023 (13% reduction).
- 45% reduction (2,500 patients) waiting over 12 months for an outpatient appointment.
- 750 fewer patients (33% reduction) waiting for an inpatient/day-case procedure.
- 55% reduction (300 patients) waiting over 12 months for treatment.
The figures may offer little respite to many waiting long periods for treatment but the Minister says he is determined that there will be fewer patients waiting for treatment by the end of 2024.
Minister Donnelly said “Throughout 2023 we’ve been tackling waiting lists hospital by hospital and specialty by specialty. Thanks to the enormous efforts of our healthcare workers in hospitals in Donegal, Mayo and Sligo, we have fewer patients waiting now than we did a year ago. 2023 was the second year in a row that we achieved this progress and I’m determined that fewer patients again will be waiting at the end of 2024 across the north-west.”
Nationally, the core target of achieving a 10% reduction in the number of patients waiting longer than the agreed Sláintecare times (10/12 weeks) was exceeded in 2023, with an 11% reduction, equating to 57,000 patients.
2023 saw a reduction of almost one third (32%) on those waiting longer than 12 months. This equates to 54,000 patients. Since the COVID-19 peak those waiting longer than 12 months has reduced by 60%.
Over 177,000 more patients were removed from acute hospital waiting lists last year compared with 2022. The target of removing approximately 1.66 million patients from waiting lists in 2023 was exceeded by 5%, with around 1.74 million patients removed.
The average Outpatient waiting time reduced from 9.7 months to 7.5 months. This represents a 23% reduction in 2023.
Minister Donnelly added “Significant progress was made during 2023 in reducing the length of time people were waiting for care. At the end of December 2023, almost 86% of patients were waiting less than the 2023 National Service Plan maximum wait time targets, which represents an improvement of 6.3% since the end of 2022. Without the intervention of the 2023 Waiting List Action Plan, it is estimated that waiting lists would have increased by 54% to almost 1.1 million people.”
The reduction in the overall waiting list achieved in 2023, follows on from a reduction in 2022, which was the first annual decrease in national hospital waiting lists since 2015. The overall waiting list reduction was achieved in 2023 despite approximately 126,900 (c. 8%) more patients being added to our waiting lists than was projected last year. A total of 1.718 million people were added to the cumulative waiting lists during the course of 2023.
Minister Donnelly said “I would like to thank all our healthcare staff who have worked tirelessly to reduce our waiting lists. It is thanks to the huge efforts of all the frontline staff and management that 2023 was the second year in a row that national hospital waiting lists fell. With the 2023 Waiting List Action Plan, my Department, the HSE and the NTPF took the next steps in the multi-annual approach towards achieving our vision of a world-class public healthcare system. This work will continue under the 2024 WLAP where everyone has timely and transparent access to high-quality scheduled care, where and when they need it, in line with Sláintecare reforms.”
