Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This has been an important debate this afternoon and the contributions demonstrate the importance Deputies attach to the health services. It must be acknowledged that attendances at our emergency departments are growing year on year. As the health service capacity review indicates, Ireland has among the highest acute bed occupancy rates in the developed world. It must also be acknowledged that there has been an increase in delayed transfer of care and that there are challenges in ensuring timely discharge of patients who no longer need acute care. Given the challenges, my Department is engaging extensively with the HSE this year to identify mitigating actions to bring down trolley numbers and waiting times in the emergency departments. The €26 million in additional winter funding secured by the Minister for 2019 will help to relieve demand for emergency department services, support more timely discharge of patients and deliver other initiatives to help hospitals deal with the challenges associated with winter. This will be achieved through the provision of additional transitional care beds, increased funding for the fair deal scheme and provision of additional home care packages.

The nine winter action teams have been in operation since the beginning of October 2019 and are responsible for the co-ordination of a range of integrated hospital and community actions on a daily basis. Each winter action team reports weekly to the winter oversight group, with enhanced reporting by sites in particular difficulty or at times of exceptional pressure. The winter oversight group is chaired by the chief operations officer of the HSE and its membership consists of senior HSE staff across the relevant divisions.

Improving timely access for patients is at the heart of Sláintecare. Building upon the progress made in recent years in this area, the Sláintecare Action Plan 2019, published by the Department of Health, includes a specific work stream on access and waiting lists. In addition, many of the other service reforms and enhancements included in the action plan will support timely access to care for patients in the coming years. Progress has already been made in implementing the Sláintecare action plan's access actions this year.

We all acknowledge that the challenges we face are significant. Of that, there is little doubt. However, it is my firm belief that all of us want to find the right patient-centred, evidence-based, results-focused and sustainable solutions to the challenges facing our health services. Investment alone will not deliver the health service we aspire to, and nor will reform or productivity improvements on their own. All three efforts, including additional capacity, must be delivered in tandem if we are to achieve the vision set out in the Sláintecare report of a universal single tier health and social care system where everyone has equal access to services based on need and not ability to pay.

I repeat the point that the most effective way of achieving the Sláintecare vision which has the support of all parties is by backing the Government's continued implementation of the Sláintecare plan.

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