Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

The average number of people waiting admission to hospital during the month of March was 137 people. It is my intention to continue to reduce waiting times for all patients presenting as emergencies to our hospitals. The HSE has set a lower waiting time target of six hours for all patients. The aim is that all patients, irrespective of whether they are admitted, will be assessed, treated and discharged or admitted within six hours of arrival. Up to now, the focus has been on waiting times for those awaiting admission to hospital.

The Healthstat data published by the HSE last week measures a number of elements of hospital activity which directly affect emergency departments. One of the Healthstat measures the number of patients who are given a discharge plan from the hospital. The target for this is that 60% of all patients should have such a plan and a discharge date. This will allow for increased efficiency and certainty regarding bed usage in hospitals. The most recent bed utilisation study, taken in June 2008, indicates that, of the patients surveyed, 48% had evidence of discharge planning, while only 16% had a documented date of discharge.

Another element of hospital efficiency on which I expect to see improvements is the number of elective patients who are admitted to hospital on the day of their procedure. The international target for this is 75%. The current national average in Ireland is approximately 30%. The majority of our hospitals need to make significant improvements on this front. The acute hospital bed capacity review of 2007 indicated that up to 140,000 beds a year could be freed up if Ireland was to reach best practice standard in this regard.

The HSE's service plan commits to reducing inappropriate admissions, reducing average length of stay and shifting activity from in-patient to day case procedures. I am confident that these measures will ensure more efficient use of available capacity and facilitate further improvements in the delivery of services in the emergency departments.

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