Health Services Waiting Lists
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-09
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Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny

Again, I thank the Senator. She can be sure I will be speaking to the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. She is very committed to funding the services and working in this regard.
It is acknowledged that patients are still waiting too long for hospital appointments and treatments. I am conscious of the burden this places on patients and their families. In January this year, the Minister for Health published the 2026 waiting time action plan as part of the Government's ongoing commitment to improving access to hospital care and reducing waiting times for patients.
Since the commencement of the multi-annual action plan approach in September 2021, significant progress has been made in reducing the length of time patients are waiting, and this is really important for us. These improvements have been achieved against the backdrop of increased demand for planned care services. Addressing this increased demand while also working to sustainably reduce waiting times will require the health service to deliver more services. We have to consider productivity, efficiency, ongoing reform and enabling supports through targeted additional capacity.
The waiting time action plan sets out six targets that will be achieved through the delivery of 36 actions under the scheme of reforming planned care, enabling planned care and capacity optimisation. With the 2026 plan, 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 they need it. The progress is seeing the implementation of the plan together with the roll-out of the model of care. Therefore, there is work being done but the Senator should absolutely send me on the details. Again, I thank her for highlighting this important issue.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-09