Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister commented on the case of Mr. Feeney and the situation that arose in regard to him. This is not the first time I have seen letters from medical personnel working in hospitals. We had many cases over the years of doctors, consultants and specialists writing letters about the difficulties in the health system. It is not an acceptable situation. The Minister responded to the issue this morning on national radio. He has established a task force to deal with delayed discharges and the situation that has arisen in a number of hospitals, some of which have traditionally been worse than others in the sense of being able to deal with delayed discharges and beds being blocked. The Minister has pointed out that when he worked as a young doctor in Beaumont hospital, the situation was equally bad even though it was a time when there was a lot more money. That is not to say the situation is in any way acceptable, however, and for that reason the emergency task force dealing with the question of delayed discharges and access to further beds is critical. As Deputy Martin pointed out, there is clearly a link between people who have had treatment in hospitals, the insufficient availability of accommodation for them and delayed discharges. The result is that back-ups build at the point at which people require admissions.

The prioritisation of home care services for those who require discharge to their own homes is one area. In regard to the provisional of transfer care beds, the HSE has approved more than 1,000 places across the country since 6 January 2015. It is also in the process of opening a number of public beds across the country. Some 173 are being targeted and community health care organisations are currently sourcing staff and making arrangements to deal with this as quickly as possible.

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