Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Emergency department, ED, overcrowding and eliminating very long waits for inpatient, outpatient and day case treatment are key priority issues for me and for the Government and I acknowledge the difficulties the current surge in ED activity is causing for patients, their families and the staff who are doing their utmost to provide safe, quality care in very challenging circumstances.

All hospitals have escalation plans to manage not only patient flow, but also patient safety in a responsive, controlled and planned way. The Government has provided additional funding of €3 million in 2014, secured in the Supplementary Estimate, and €25 million in 2015, secured in the Estimates for this year, to address delayed discharges and actions being taken include the provision of additional home care packages, additional transition beds in nursing homes, of which there have been several hundred, 300 additional fair deal scheme places and an extension in community intervention teams. Building upon these initiatives, the HSE is currently finalising an action plan under the auspices of the ED task force to address ED issues with a view to a significant reduction in trolley waits over the course of 2015.

My Department is also working with the HSE to put in place a plan to eliminate very long waits by the end of the year. This will involve both operational improvements and better waiting list management.

As I have stated publicly in the context of the significant emergency pressures currently being experienced by hospitals, realistically I do not envisage significant improvement in elective waiting times in the early part of the year. However, based upon the high priority attached to this area in the HSE service plan and the first overall increase in the HSE budget in seven years, it is expected that some improvement will occur later in the year.

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