Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 January 2026
2170. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the average waiting time, by hospital group, for a first outpatient assessment in publicly funded chronic pain services at the end of Q4 2025; the longest waiting time recorded nationally; and the number of patients waiting longer than six months and longer than twelve months for an initial appointment. [74401/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is acknowledged that many patients are still waiting too long for hospital appointments and treatments. I am conscious of the burden that this places on patients and their families.
The multi-annual Waiting List Action Plan approach was implemented in September 2021 to sustainably reduce and reform hospital waiting lists and waiting times.
With the multi annual action plan approach, we are progressing towards the ultimate vision of a public healthcare service in which everyone has timely access to high-quality scheduled care, where and when they need it.
My Department is engaging with the HSE and National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) to finalise the action plan for 2026, building on the progress delivered to date, renewing the focus on improving waiting times for patients, and considering the learnings from the challenges that arose in 2025.
National waiting list information by hospital, specialty, and time band is published monthly by the NTPF on its website: www.ntpf.ie/home/nwld.htm
The information is now being made available through an interactive visual tool which provides users with a much-improved way of accessing and analysing waiting list information.
The specific information requested by the Deputy which is not readily available on the NTPF website is set out in the following table.
It should be noted that the health system does not collect the data necessary to calculate the average time to treatment of patients who have already received their care. The mean and median average waiting times provided to my Department by the NTPF and set out in the attached, are in respect of how long patients on lists have been waiting.
Mean & Median waiting time on the Pain Relief Outpatient waiting list by HSE Region - End December 2025
|
HSE Region |
Mean Wait time (days) |
Median Wait time (days) |
|
Children's Health Ireland |
71 |
52.5 |
|
HSE Dublin and Midlands |
297 |
268 |
|
HSE Dublin and North East |
202 |
183 |
|
HSE Dublin and South East |
303 |
258 |
|
HSE Mid West |
113 |
86 |
|
HSE South West |
205 |
170 |
|
HSE West and North West |
172 |
132 |
Notes:
The NTPF advise that the health system does not collect the data necessary to calculate average wait times. In particular, the time to treatment of patients who have already received their care is not collected. The NTPF collects data on patients currently on the waiting list and the average time that these patients have been waiting is provided.
The NTPF advise that in official reporting of hospital waiting times, the median is considered more accurate than the mean because it reflects the midpoint of all patients' wait times, minimizing the impact of exceptionally long or short waits that can distort the average and providing a more representative measure of typical patient experience.
