Saturday clinics part of €360m plan to cut hospital waiting lists

The flexibility arises from a new work contract for specialists that allows consultants to be rostered in the evenings and on Saturdays.

However, such is the demand that an additional almost two million public patients are due to be added to hospital waiting lists this year.

It means that at the end of the year, the reduction in numbers in the queue will be 39,327.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly outlined the €360m waiting list plan for 2024, saying a crucial element will be cutting the time people are in the queues. Overall, at the end of this year, there will be 632,086 patients waiting, down from 671,413.

The plan is to carry out 466 surgeries on children who have scoliosis or spina bifida. It also includes a target to do 224 bariatric surgeries on adults who have obesity.

The minister said the measures will include using the new consultant contract to deploy extra clinics and maximise the use of clinic infrastructure for late evenings and on Saturdays.

Surgical hubs in north and south Dublin are also expected to begin on a phased basis in the last quarter of the year.

Around €179m is to be given to the National Treatment Purchase Fund to buy slots in private and public hospitals.

Figures show 86pc of patients on outpatient lists are waiting less than 15 months, and the aim is to increase this to 90pc. Around 78pc of people needing surgery are facing delays of under nine months,and the target is to push this also to 90pc.

There is huge pressure on the need for more gastrointestinal scopes, and the hope is to hold the line at 95pc in the queue for less than nine months.

Meanwhile, the HSE is asking people to consider all options over the Easter holiday when looking for emergency care in a bid to keep pressure from building up on emergency department trolleys.

It has a plan in place to try to maintain patient flow with weekend discharges.​

A HSE spokeswoman said that despite the recruitment freeze, HSE chief Bernard Gloster has made derogation provision for emergency departments and other essential services.

Mr Gloster said: “We have never failed to recognise the challenges in a recruitment pause. However, it is being repeatedly reported out of context as if there is a cause and effect relationship between the recruitment pause and trolley pressures, and this is not an accurate representation.”​