Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I apologise. I propose to take Questions Nos. 69, 162 and 169 together.

Improving the delivery of accident and emergency services is the Government's top priority in health. Our objectives are to reduce the numbers waiting for admission, the time spent waiting for admission and the turn-around time for those who can be treated in accident and emergency departments and who do not require admission.

In March 2006, the HSE established a dedicated task force to facilitate the implementation of the HSE's framework for addressing the problems arising in the delivery of emergency department services. The report of the task force was published on 1 June.

The task force report noted that the majority of the hospitals which were identified as experiencing difficulties in the delivery of emergency department services have for some time been meeting the initial performance targets set by the HSE. There are a small number of hospitals that have experienced particular difficulties in seeking to achieve the targets.

The task force report recommends that revised targets should be set to ensure that no patient waits longer than 12 hours for admission to an acute bed, once the decision to admit has been made. The ultimate objective is a total wait time target of six hours from the time a patient presents at the emergency department to the time he or she is either admitted to an acute bed or is treated and discharged home. The task force acknowledged that further work is required on the establishment of total wait time targets. Key issues to be addressed by the HSE in this context are the standardisation of processes and models of care within emergency departments and the standardisation of waiting time measurement.

The HSE has announced that it intends to introduce revised performance targets in October next. The basis for the timing of the introduction of the revised targets is to take account of key infrastructural developments, including the commissioning of 700 additional public long-stay beds. In addition, a number of emergency department developments, including admission lounges and acute medical units, are to become operational in 2007 and at the start of 2008. These developments are designed to deliver improvements in terms of the clinical decision-making within emergency departments and to address dignity and privacy issues for patients awaiting admission to an acute bed.

See this speech in context