Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very conscious of the impact that long wait times in emergency departments can have on patients and their families, as well as on front-line staff. Last Monday I attended my first meeting of the emergency department, ED, task force implementation group, which is co-chaired by the director general of the HSE and Mr. Liam Doran of the INMO and which is providing focus and momentum in dealing with the challenges presented by emergency department overcrowding. As Minister for Health, I intend to personally attend the monthly meetings in order to keep momentum going.

In June 2015, additional funding of €18 million was made available to the HSE under the winter additional capacity initiative. The initiative identified 301 additional winter capacity beds that could be opened. In some hospitals, beds have proved more challenging to open than envisaged, owing to difficulties in staff recruitment. However, to date, 236 of these 301 new beds have opened. In addition, 116 closed beds have re-opened and a further 14 beds have been opened in Sligo. In total, 366 new or reopened beds have been made available.

This extra capacity has enabled similar emergency department performance to the equivalent period in 2015, despite an average increase of nearly 6% in attendances so far this year.

Furthermore, figures for May show total numbers of patients on trolleys are approximately 18% lower than in May 2015, with numbers waiting over nine hours approximately 24% lower than in May 2015. I do not say this is acceptable but I want to put it into context.

The demand for acute hospital services continues to increase in line with a growing and ageing population. The overall population growth year on year is in the order of 1%, whereas growth in the over-65 age group is of the order of 3% to 4% per year. In addition, in 2014 adults aged 65 years and over accounted for nearly 13% of our population but used 53% of total hospital inpatient care, which demonstrates the demographic pressures on our health service.

Reviews of bed capacity and medical assessment unit hours of service are needed and are key commitments in the programme for a partnership Government, as well as for me, as Minister for Health, so that I can look at ways to address pressures on our emergency departments. I am planning a winter initiative, not just for this year but next year too and this is under way.

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