Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

I am grateful to the Deputy for raising this important issue. Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, is continuously working across a number of levels to reduce the time patients wait on trolleys in the emergency department. The hospital is currently implementing a two-pronged approach to the management of overcrowding in the emergency department. First, it is working closely with the special delivery unit to improve capacity planning throughout the hospital. The clinical director and group general manager are fully engaged in managing scheduled care and unscheduled care under the direction of Dr. Martin Connor of the SDU. Second, the hospital is actively engaged in the implementation of the HSE's national clinical care programmes, which will focus on extending the hospital's acute medical assessment unit facility. In addition, the hospital is operating a proactive three-tiered response based on the level of overcrowding.

In response to the numbers of patients who have presented at the emergency department over the past month, the HSE arranged additional theatre time to facilitate the treatment of additional surgical cases. Additional diagnostic capacity was also provided to the medical assessment unit and to expedite discharge. Furthermore, for the past week the medical assessment unit and the day ward have remained open at night to accommodate patients from the emergency department.

The patient treatment plan of each patient is reviewed each morning by 8 o'clock and at regular intervals throughout the day, particularly when the escalation policy to deal with this issue is in place. Additional ward rounds are also undertaken throughout the day and on-call physicians and surgeons are met to review their treatment plans for patients. Where blockages are identified, the hospital management engages with the relevant service to expedite the provision of this service to the patients.

The situation in the emergency department earlier today was that there were 23 patients awaiting admission. While issues of overcrowding and waiting times in emergency departments, which are symptoms of broader hospital issues, are a source of concern, it is important to note that when a patient comes in to the emergency department, his or her treatment begins at triage and, in accordance with the priorities identified by way of the triage process, anybody requiring urgent care receives it.

The Minister, Deputy Reilly, fully acknowledges and has previously stated that the waiting times for admission for patients attending emergency departments in many hospitals are unacceptable, and he is determined that this situation should be addressed. Immediately following his appointment, the Minister set about establishing the special delivery unit to unblock access to acute services by improving the flow of patients through the system. The SDU is focusing initially on emergency departments and will work to support hospitals in addressing excessive waiting times for admission to hospital.

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