Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The short answer is yes. The Deputy raises an important issue in terms of trying to ensure we have parity of access to our health services for all patients. We have seen in other waiting list areas where we have, through State expenditure, supported our patients accessing health services. My commitment is to beef up the public health service, but we must also acknowledge where there is capacity in other parts.

As the Deputy will be aware, I have no role at present in regulating the activities of private hospitals, although there are a number of issues in the suggestion that I would like to tease out with him. Emergency departments in public hospitals provide comprehensive 24-7 emergency care to all patients regardless of health insurance status. Currently, no emergency department in a private hospital offers a 24-hour service and only a minority provide services at weekends.

My Department is engaging with private hospitals on their potential to contribute to meeting the demand for acute services right across a range of services. There is already significant experience in using the services of such hospitals to assist in addressing lengthy waiting times for scheduled care. An example of such collaboration is that this year €20 million is being allocated to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, rising to €55 million in 2018. I envisage the NTPF utilising both the public and the private hospitals to reduce waiting lists. I recently met the Private Hospitals Association to review both this experience and the further scope for private hospitals to contribute to urgent health priorities. Our patients waiting for care do not want a big ideological debate. They want to know that we are expending taxpayers' money to get the access to our health service.

To date this year, the HSE has reported an increase of approximately 5% in emergency department attendances. Despite increased demand, there has been a decrease of almost 5% in numbers of patients waiting on trolleys. That is no comfort to someone waiting on a trolley but we have seen increased demand yet fewer patients on trolleys. In addition, patient experience times have been improving, with 82% of all patients completing their emergency department episode of care within nine hours.

My Department, working with the HSE, has been driving a range of measures to alleviate overcrowding and reduce patient experience times in emergency departments. In September, the HSE published the Winter Initiative Plan 2016–2017, which provides €40 million of additional funding to manage increased demand for health care during the winter. Indeed, I will be visiting Deputy Kelly's county with him shortly on this matter.

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