Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The numbers presenting continue to increase year on year, with figures for October showing an increase in emergency department attendance of 6.1% in comparison with the same period last year. This amounts to 3,063 more patients.

The Deputy will be aware that a new emergency department is currently being fitted out at University Hospital Limerick and will open next year. The new facility will triple the size of the current emergency department and will improve the experiences for those attending immeasurably, particularly in terms of comfort, privacy and dignity.

On 9 September, the HSE published the winter initiative play 2016-2017. The plan provides €40 million of additional funding for winter preparedness and to help to alleviate the pressures on our emergency departments during this time. As part of this initiative, University Hospital Limerick has been identified as one of the nine focus sites experiencing the greatest challenge in terms of emergency department pressures. I know that Senator O'Donnell is well aware of this. Consequently, these sites need specific support measures to enable them to respond more effectively to expected surges in demand for emergency care during the busy winter period.

The winter plan for the University of Limerick hospital group identifies the key actions needed to address the anticipated surge in activity during the winter period. This includes measures around avoiding hospital, improved patient flow, timely access and discharge. Actions will be taken to increase early discharges, to address delayed discharges, fast-track triage for patients over 75 years of age and improve access to inpatient MRI capacity. In early November, the operational hours of the medical assessment unit at University Hospital Limerick was extended by three hours per day and is now exclusively allocated to patients presenting to the emergency department. This will facilitate the immediate assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients presenting with medical conditions such as chest infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, fainting episodes, clots in the leg, anaemia or non-acute cardiac problems.

The University of Limerick hospital group is also working to maximise the use of the model 2 hospitals in the region - in other words, the hospitals in Ennis, Nenagh and St. John's Hospital - to free up beds in University Hospital Limerick. The group aims to ensure the safety of patients and staff, as well as to minimise absenteeism and agency costs through staff vaccination for the flu virus.

The winter initiative has allowed for the provision of 50 additional home-care packages per week to ten specific hospital sites, including University Hospital Limerick, which will be receiving an additional six home-care packages per week until the end of February 2017. University Hospital Limerick will also benefit from measures in the winter initiative that are available to all hospitals, including an additional €10 million for home-help and home-care packages, the increased availability of aids and appliances and increases in availability of transition care beds.