Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept that there are recurring challenges in the health system, not the least of which is in the accident and emergency departments. I am disappointed that the INMO has voted in favour of industrial action. While the outcome was expected, industrial action will not sort out the challenges we face. The director general of the HSE has already affirmed that health service management is keen to use the machinery of the State to deal with the decision of the INMO, which it was entitled to make. The emergency department task force has a specific plan which was developed in accordance with the authorities. The task force is co-chaired by the director general of the HSE and the INMO's general secretary. It is important to say that overcrowding continues to be a problem and the frustrations of staff have been expressed to myself and many others because of the pressure they work under in particular situations. The Deputy should know, though, that a strike will not assist a single patient on any trolley or in any accident and emergency unit or hospital.

The number of people on trolleys is 20% lower today than it was on the same day last year. The figures produced by the nurses themselves accept that overcrowding is slightly lower than it was this time last year. That is a big change from August of this year, when overcrowding was 40% worse, and it is also clear that we are a long way from the very bad situation at the start of this year when between 500 and 600 people were on trolleys in hospitals. The implementation of the emergency department task force plan is beginning to yield beneficial results. We have seen the expansion of community intervention teams to deliver services outside hospitals. Mount Carmel is the first community hospital to open in that regard. There has been a reopening of 100 beds that had been closed and the opening of a further 100 new beds. There will be 100 more beds in next couple of weeks and a further 100 between December and January. These are beds for which provision has been made in the budget and they have been brought about by the intervention of the Minister for Health. They will do a good deal to alleviate the pressure that has been built up.

In conclusion, it is fair to say that the investment in the fair deal scheme has brought the waiting period down from 16 weeks to two to four weeks and thereby reduced the level of delayed discharges in our hospitals by approximately 250. That, together with the home care packages, provides opportunities in the community for patients to receive treatment so that they do not have to be in hospital in the first place. I hope the negotiations can take place to prevent a strike which will not help any patient. The plan put in place by the task force co-chaired by the secretary general of the INMO is now beginning to yield very positive results.

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