Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 March 2026
48. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Health the timeline for full implementation of the digital and data-driven reforms outlined in the Waiting Time Action Plan 2026, including virtual engagement, electronic referral systems and AI-supported waiting list management; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17543/26]
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.
I published the Waiting Time Action Plan (WTAP) for 2026 on January 30th, as part of this Government’s ongoing commitment to improving access to hospital care and sustainably reducing waiting times for patients. Progressing this objective will require the health service to deliver more core activity through improved productivity and efficiencies, through ongoing reform and new enabling supports, and through targeted additional capacity.
The WTAP sets out six overarching and interconnected targets, which will be achieved through the delivery of 36 actions under the themes of “Reforming Planned Care”, “Enabling Planned Care” and “Capacity Optimisation”.
The Enabling Planned Care theme encompasses 11 actions focused on a number of digital and enabling technologies and tools that will support and facilitate the longer-term reform of waiting lists. This includes a range of initiatives such as: the further implementation of the endoscopy reporting system and further roll out of endoscopy electronic referral system; continued expansion of virtually-based patient engagement; further implementation of Artificial Intelligence and automation processes to support the management of certain aspects of waiting lists; use of data mining solutions to improve capacity utilisation; continuing to embed enhanced data visualisation dashboards across hospitals and Health Regions to improve productivity and performance oversight and further roll out of features within the HSE Health App to support waiting list management.
All of these digital initiatives are part of a wider programme of work to implement the Digital for Care strategic framework that provides the roadmap for how we plan to reform and modernise the health service by leveraging digital solutions.
As the WLAP was only published at the end of January its still to early to report progress on specific initiatives such as listed by the deputy but we can report that in relation to 'virtual engagement' the acute virtual ward in Galway is now live, meaning we have at least one SVW in all six health regions, virtual engagement, in relation to 'electronic referral systems' the HSE continue to exploit this capability to eliminate paper process and more important speed up the waiting list process through the sue of electronic referrals. In relation to AI-supported waiting list management, this capability is being expanded into all hospitals as an effective means of streamlining processes and removing unnecessary manual interventions that can lead to avoidable delays.
With the 2026 WTAP, we will continue to build upon the progress delivered to date under the multi annual Action Plan approach, moving 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.
The implementation of the WTAP 2026 will be overseen by the Waiting List Task Force, which is co-chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Health and the CEO of the HSE. Effective oversight, through this governance structure, will help to reduce waiting times and bring us closer to having a public healthcare service in which everyone has timely access to high-quality scheduled care, where and when they need it.
