Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Donnelly for raising this issue and apologise for being a couple of seconds late. I was watching the screen, waiting for the round-up and the next minute, I had to dart across. I am taking this on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly. CHI at Connolly, which opened in July 2019, is a children's outpatient and urgent care centre staffed by specialist paediatric teams, including nurses, doctors, health and social care professionals and support staff. Urgent care is for the diagnosis and treatment of injuries or illnesses requiring medical review, which are not serious enough to require emergency department attendance or inpatient admission.

In March 2022, CHI expanded the service provision at the urgent care centre by it extending to a full seven-day working model. CHI at Connolly offers children, young people and their families living in Dublin, Kildare, and Meath convenient and quality urgent care close to home.

The change in service occurred because the demand for services in CHI at Connolly urgent care centre has steadily increased since it opened. CHI has advised that the urgent care centre is currently seeing daily attendances far beyond the planned level of service activity. This demand is putting significant pressure on the system, resulting in long waiting times and impacting on patient experience, which is difficult for both families and staff. To address these issues, a three-month pilot of an appointments-only approach was proposed by senior paediatric emergency medicine clinicians and the clinical operations group at CHI. CHI has advised that this approach upholds the original principles of urgent care and intended service activity, while addressing the current demand issue to ensure the quality and safety of service delivery. The change from a walk-in service to a same-day appointment service took effect from 22 February, just over ten days ago.

A digital swift-queue process on the CHI at Connolly website allows families to book an appointment at short notice. The Deputy raised the matter of logging in. There is a digital swift-queue process and options for those who do not have online access. CHI has prepared for a transitional period of three to four weeks during which patients will still attend without an appointment and will be shown how to schedule any further visits. This approach will improve patient experience by reducing on-site waiting times for families. It will also redirect attendances that are more clinically suited to primary care or an emergency department. CHI is monitoring the impact of this change across the CHI sites during the three-month pilot period.

I reiterate that the appointment approach at the urgent care centre at Connolly seeks to address the long waiting times caused by the significant increase in demand, and to support families in attending the most appropriate level of care for their clinical needs. This is in line with the Government's steadfast commitment to ensure children and their families receive the right care in the right place at the right time, in line with Sláintecare. CHI is trying to manage the situation as best it can. It has decided on a pilot process for three months after which it will re-evaluate it. For the first three to four weeks, patients who present without an appointment will still be looked after. A hands-on approach is being taken to see how this will work. We all look forward to seeing the evaluation at the end of the three months.

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