Dramatic improvement in Health Service in 2012

There has been some very dramatic improvements in the Health Service last year according to the latest statistics released by the Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly TD :-

• There has been a reduction of 24% in the number of people on trolleys. There were 20,352 fewer patients on trolleys in 2012 than in 2011. 
• There has been a reduction of 98% in the number of adults waiting more than nine months for inpatient and day-case surgery; down from 3,706 in December 2011 to 86 at the end of December 2012.
• There was a 95% reduction in the number of children waiting more than 20 weeks for inpatient or day-case surgery; down from 1,759 in December 2011 to 89. 
• The number of patients waiting more than 13 weeks for routine endoscopy procedures was reduced by 99%; from 4,590 in December 2011 to 36 at the end of 2012.
• For the first time in the history of the State, we have collated the true number of people waiting on outpatient lists (around 380,000).
• By the end of the year, the plan is that no one will wait longer than 12 months for an outpatient appointment. Some 16,000 people have been waiting longer than four years. 
• There is no longer a dispute over the morning trolley count with the INMO; we now have a joint figure.