Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

I will not respond to that provocative comment from Deputy Flanagan.

I will not dispute the figures even though the official figures are different from the figures quoted by the IMMO. Arguing between 400 and 569 is a futile exercise; from my point of view too many people have to wait for an unacceptable period of time in emergency departments. The truth is that there has been virtually constant improvement over the years. For example, last year during January an average of 57 people were waiting and the previous year it was 69. Until we get to the end of January we will not be able to see what the average is for this year. However, those figures are still too high.

The initiatives being taken include the fair deal, which has had a dramatic impact on late discharges. Additional capacity is coming on board; for example St. Joseph's in Deputy Reilly's area will greatly relieve pressure at Beaumont Hospital. Owing to HIQA requirements, that needs to be ramped up gradually and cannot be opened all at once. The opening of the new unit in Cork last Monday has already had an impact on Cork University Hospital. Ultimately, the decision on waits in emergency departments relate to the overall functioning of the hospital. In particular, I am not satisfied with the functioning of six or seven hospitals that constantly have problems, which is why the HSE recently appointed a team to go into those hospitals - in the first instance they are in Beaumont, Limerick and Drogheda. Shortly they will go into Tallaght hospital to work with those hospitals. The team is composed of people from here and from the UK - they successfully completed such an exercise in the UK. It will work with those hospitals on the internal mechanisms that lead to long and unsatisfactory waits for patients in emergency departments.

The HSE had closed more than 400 beds, a seasonal measure taken over Christmas, which is always a quieter time for hospitals. Those beds did not reopen on time this year; I accept they should have opened earlier. If they had opened, we would not have had the problem we had last week. Those beds have now been opened, but for cost reasons the remaining beds cannot and will not be opened. I do not believe it is an issue of simply opening more beds. There is a subsequent question on hospital beds. It is a matter for the appropriate functioning of the hospital - daily discharges with senior clinicians on hand seven days a week. The HSE is putting in place structured clinical cover at the weekends in the hospitals to ensure that the emergency departments do not suffer from the kind of problems we experienced last week.

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