Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have addressed recruitment, but the motion refers to emergency departments as well. It is not credible to talk about emergency departments pressures without referring to Covid. Combining the numbers for Covid, flu and RSV about a week ago, there were about 800 patients involved. We are seeing significant increases.

There are things we can do and are doing. On vaccines, for example, I was happy to see that new reporting from the ECDC shows that, as of 2 December, Ireland has the highest uptake of vaccines for the 60-plus population, for which our healthcare professionals and those who take the vaccines deserve great credit. The winter plan is helping. We would love to see more, but a lot is happening. There has been a significant increase in the sanctioning of emergency medicine consultants and healthcare professional and nurses in emergency departments according to the safe staffing framework. The winter plan funds the recruitment of an extra 600 staff, which is relevant. It increases the work of community intervention teams, GP out-of-hours services and supports, community and acute diagnostics, which has been a success, and the expansion of ambulance services.

While there is nothing normal about the pressures faced by our emergency departments at the moment in the context of Covid, post Covid and all of that, we all know we need a healthcare service with sufficient capacity and working in the right ways to cope with normal winter pressures. We have not had that for a very long time. That is what we are building up capacity to do. What have we done? Since the Government was formed, we have added over 900 hospital beds and increased ICU capacity by about a quarter. We are ahead of the Sláintecare target profile for hospital beds and will keep going. We have caught up and are on target for ICU beds.

Is all this investment making a difference where it really matters, namely, not just in emergency departments but, as Deputies have referenced, with regard to waiting lists? Yes. We focused on people waiting too long, that is, numbers waiting more than 18 months, 12 months, six months or in the context of the targets set out in Sláintecare. Good progress is being made as we come out of Covid. For example, the number waiting more than a year for outpatient appointments over the past two years has gone down by a third despite Covid. For inpatient and day cases, the number waiting more than six months in about the last two years has gone down by about a third. The biggest improvement has been in patients waiting for scopes. The number waiting more than six months in the last two years is down by more than 70%.

Are we where we need to be? No, because we are all signed up to the Sláintecare targets, but significant reductions are being seen as we come out of Covid and capacity becomes available. We have a long way to go. Particular areas are doing very well. I presume Deputy Cullinane took the lead in writing the motion, so I will go to the example of University Hospital Waterford, the Deputy's local hospital.

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