Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy makes a valid point about trolley numbers and the Minister for Health has made this a particular priority. Emergency department overcrowding and long patient waiting lists are of critical concern here. Last September the HSE's winter initiative was announced which provided €40 million of additional funding to deal with these matters. A range of practical measures to address emergency department overcrowding were implemented, including 90 newly-opened additional hospital beds and a reduction in delayed discharges nationally from 668 in September to 434 in December. Delayed discharges were maintained below 500 to the end of February. Aids and appliances were given to over 4,450 patients, 1,000 additional home care packages were provided and 615 additional transitional care bed approvals were also made. All these measures enabled patients to be discharged from hospital sooner. A key element of the winter initiative was for the HSE to work with hospitals to develop improvement actions and winter plans at each location. Learning from the most recent winter initiative will be important for the future.

As part of the ongoing measures to relieve pressure in emergency departments, several major capital projects are under way or in the process of completion which will increase overall capacity in the hospital system. These include a new ward block and an adult mental health unit at University Hospital Galway, a new emergency department in Limerick and an extension at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. The Department has also commenced a bed capacity review in line with the commitment in the programme for Government. That review will feed into the mid-term review of the capital programme which is under way at present. The Minister and the Department will continue to work intensively with the HSE to address the challenges and monitor the performance in the emergency departments. In Deputy Howlin's constituency in Wexford, for example, the design and construction of the new emergency department has eliminated a great deal of the pressure and stress in what was previously a very constrained and confined emergency department. A number of modular units will be put in place as extensions to existing emergency departments in some hospitals to relieve pressure. Members are aware that the population of this country is ageing. We must think in terms of 2020, 2030 and even 2040. By 2040 Ireland may have 1 million additional people and will need 0.5 million extra houses. We will also have to deal with our ageing population in the context of hospital locations, primary care centres, community homes and so forth. That is all part of a ten year capital programme in which everyone will have to be involved because Ireland's current health facilities will have to be radically different in ten years' time.

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