Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which is not just urgent and crucial but also sensitive for parents and relatives. I will respond on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly.

Our Lady's Hospital, Crumlin, wishes to apologise for any discomfort for patient and parents caused by the need to reschedule this child's surgery. The Deputy will be pleased to know that the hospital has confirmed a proposed admission date for the child tomorrow, 15 February 2012. The hospital has indicated it will take into account the previous cancellations when allocating beds within the hospital tomorrow.

Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, in common with its sister hospitals, the Children's University Hospital, Temple Street and AMNCH incorporating the National Children's Hospital, is currently experiencing a surge in attendances to its emergency department and a corresponding surge in admissions through its emergency department. These admissions have a knock-on impact on elective surgeries in that the clinically indicated admissions must take priority. The Dublin paediatric hospitals work across the three sites in order to ameliorate a number of pressures on elective surgery and have put mitigating mechanisms in place.

The clinical director, a joint appointment across all three hospitals, works with the hospitals to ensure patients are given the right treatment in the most appropriate location. When bed pressures occur, the clinical director clinically reviews patients and, where necessary, redeploys patients across the hospitals in order to minimise the impact on elective surgery.

In addition, a one-stop-shop is being created for paediatric intensive care beds, supported by an ICT infrastructure to streamline the process. Consultant paediatricians from around the country with patients requiring access to paediatric intensive care beds will be able to contact a low call number. The consultant will then access the ICT support and provide the patient details for review. Based on this information, the appropriate bed is designated and the admission procedure takes place.

The hospitals also have a number of cross-site working groups in place including nursing, theatre utilisation, ICT, waiting list review groups and a CEO group, all focused on conjoint working to improve access, quality and resource utilisation for patients. Paediatric hospitals remain cognisant at all times of the challenges facing their young patients and the need to support families. They work with the families whenever possible to ensure the least possible disruption to the patient.

In addition to the mechanisms already in place within the three Dublin paediatric hospitals, the special delivery unit, SDU, was also established last year to unblock access to acute services by improving the flow of patients through the system. It is working with the HSE, NTPF and hospitals to minimise patient waiting times in emergency departments and reduce waiting periods for inpatient and day case elective surgical care.

Again, the hospital wishes to apologise for the unfortunate need to postpone surgery in this case. The Minister is determined to ensure the steps now being taken will minimise the likelihood of having to do so in other cases.

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