2026-07-09

92. Deputy Paula Butterly asked the Minister for Health the number of patients awaiting elective surgery at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, broken down by specialty and waiting time bands; the measures being taken to reduce these waiting lists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52249/26]

At a time when many waiting lists have been impacted by the ongoing trend of higher demand and increased referrals, it is wonderful to be able to report some positive progress. In Our Lady of Lourdes, at the end of May, 939 patients were waiting for an inpatient day case procedure, which is a decrease of 17% when compared with May 2025 and a 14% decrease from the start of January. More importantly again, 90% of those patients were waiting twelve months or less and the number waiting over 12 months has decreased by 46% since May last year. That is a sign of real activity in the hospital. I am very pleased with it and congratulate the manager, Priya, for her excellent work on that and in managing urgent and emergency care as well. Some 47% of patients in Our Lady of Lourdes are waiting within the Sláintecare target of 12 weeks. The interim target in the national service plan and waiting time action plan is 50%, so we really are getting there in Drogheda. Significant improvements can also be seen in individual specialities. Gynaecology inpatient day cases are down 25% on May last year and 18% since January of this year. Ear, nose and throat lists have decreased by 48% since last year and 14% since January. Against a trend of rising referrals and increased demands, waiting list reductions of that kind are very significant. Overall elective surgery increased by 19% to the end of May 2026, which is positive. I have to sit that against continued good management of its emergency department and patient demand overall. You cannot bring patients into an unsafe hospitals. Drogheda is not doing that and it is still getting the lists down. With two slots per fortnight in the new surgical hub in Swords, I expect those figures to further improve in Our Lady of Lourdes and across the Dublin and north-east region as the hub gets up to speed. I intend to monitor the activity in the surgical hub and the corresponding activity in the theatres in the original hospital to make sure activity is being increased everywhere.

I thank the Minister for that information and join her in congratulating the Lourdes hospital for getting on top of the issue of waiting lists and for the good work all the staff are doing, led by the new general manager. It goes to show that when there is good management, will and the ability to reduce waiting lists, we can make progress. As the Minister pointed out, they are doing nearly 20% more elective surgeries than last year but the level of staffing is the same. While this is a great success story, I wonder if it is sustainable in the long term. It shows two things clearly. First, they are very efficient but, second, the need in the region is significantly higher than the current model accounts for. Lourdes hospital is a model 3, yet it is performing as if it were a model 4 hospital.

Yes, I know. It really is excellent. I am not saying everything and every experience are perfect but it is doing enormously well. It is not just in terms of elective surgery; it has also increased its outpatient capacity by 23% and is at 100% of its endoscopy priority 1 target. That is significant activity, good management of a hospital and an enormous progression for that hospital on 18 months ago, or maybe slightly more, when it was in a different situation. More staff have gone into the surgical hub for the region and that benefits everybody. About half of the staff in the surgical hub will be dedicated to the hub and different hospitals will move in with their own teams. We have organised it such that, over a two-week period, access to the hub will be shared between Beaumont, the Mater, Our Lady of Lourdes, Cavan-Monaghan, Connolly - all of the hospitals in the region - to ensure equity of access for everybody there. The increase in staff for the hub is an increase in staff for everybody because it can take scheduled activity away from Drogheda.

Our Lady of Lourdes serves about 360,000 people in its catchment area at the moment and I believe that is growing rapidly. Going back to the idea that it is effectively a model 4 hospital while being classed as model 3, there is a case for looking at and expanding the services in Our Lady of Lourdes and making it a model 4 hospital. Looking at a map of where model 4 hospitals are in the country, we have them in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, and Kilkenny for some services. There is a gap in the north east, considering the catchment of 360,000 people and growing. We are in a position to expand on those services. Staff and management are proving they are up to the task. Will the Minister consider this?

I have asked the regional executive officer, Sara Long, and the regional clinical director, Eamon Dolan, to do a piece of work that considers the whole region. The region is performing exceptionally well in the overall management of demand, although there is more in the community that needs to happen. In that region there is Beaumont, which is a neurology specialist centre; the Mater, which is a cardiac specialist centre; Connolly, which is a position for the future for elective work; the hub; and Drogheda. There is an interesting matrix of hospitals and division of work and specialities there. I have asked them to come up with what the future of the region looks like. How do we best allocate resources? How do we think about where services should be delivered and the concentration of specialist centres? It is a region that is already demonstrating that. As we move forward with the elective hospital in Connolly, we have done the preliminary work of putting in the high-dependency unit beds. It is really interesting. I have asked them to think about the region in an ambitious way and come back to me with a plan for the future. Perhaps a model 4 is possible. I do not know. Let us see what Eamon and Sara come back with.