I raise with the Minister the commitment in the programme for Government to reduce outpatient waiting lists and waiting times, in particular waiting times for ear, nose and throat, ENT, services in the south east based in Waterford University Hospital. We have been told repeatedly by the manager of the hospital that the waiting time to be seen in the outpatients’ department of Waterford University Hospital is now four years. One case relates to a child of 15 who is on antibiotics for acute tonsillitis. We have been told that the hospital cannot give a date for an appointment but that waiting times are currently in excess of 48 months. I have seen waiting times of 51 months in the same department. What is the Government going to do to address that or is the commitment to the programme for Government entirely fatuous?

As a former Minister in the Department of Health, the Deputy knows there is not a short answer to questions such as the one he raised. Everybody accepts that the waiting lists are far too long. They are unacceptable and not good enough. The issue is what we do and how we do it, which will take a fundamental shift. A one line answer from me today would not wipe 700,000 people from the outpatient waiting lists.

What will the Minister of State say to this child?

Under the Sláintecare approach, we will bring healthcare down to the lowest level possible and ensure that people are treated in a more appropriate and timely manner.

That must be funding led.

It will take a year or two before the implementation of the strategy will have real teeth and we can make substantial progress.

That is not an answer.

It is an answer.

What do I say to this child?

That is the future.

We cannot have a conversation on the matter.

The Deputy knows well that I cannot comment on individual cases.

The Minister of State can comment on all the cases.

That is the cross-party approach to dealing with the challenges in the health service. It is a radical, drastic reorientation of how we deliver services because the system we have is not doing that, as we all accept.