Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to address the House on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, on the issues raised by the Senator. I acknowledge the distress overcrowded emergency departments cause patients, their families and front-line staff working in challenging conditions in hospitals throughout the country.

According to HSE TrolleyGAR data, there was a 79.9% reduction in the number of patients waiting on trolleys at 8 a.m. in the emergency department at University Hospital Galway in the period January to March 2021, compared to the same period last year. However, the number of patients waiting on trolleys at 8 a.m. increased by 51% in March 2021 compared to February 2021.

Several factors have affected the increased number of people waiting on trolleys in the past week, including a significantly higher level of attendances. Admissions for the over-75 age group with higher levels of acuity have returned to pre-pandemic levels. The management of Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 pathways presents an additional challenge to patient flow in UHG emergency department. The hospital is also experiencing capacity issues due to an increase in elective activity and bed closures for operational reasons.

The HSE is actively working with University Hospital Galway and Saolta hospital group to ease congestion with a focus on patient flow, facilitating transfers to level 2 hospitals, providing assistance from community health organisation services to support egress and prioritising diagnostics to aid inpatient discharges. UHG is particularly attuned to the need to manage infection prevention and control. We continue to invest in UHG to improve services to patients. The project for a new emergency department in University Hospital Galway, which is part of a larger development incorporating maternity and paediatric services, is included in the capital programme for 2021. Approval has been granted to complete a temporary extension to the emergency department to provide additional accommodation. This includes segregated waiting and treatment areas, isolation rooms, additional resuscitation spaces, additional support accommodation to take account of new requirements to treat Covid-19 patients and improved infection control and prevention requirements for the emergency department.Enabling works have commenced and construction on this temporary extension is expected to commence in early May. It is expected the project will be completed in early 2022.

Improvements continue to be made in the haematology oncology day ward to increase capacity. A new radiation oncology facility is expected to be fully open by quarter 3 of 2023. The main emergency department and women's and children's block development at UHG is a complex project and is in the early stages of design progression. In addition, UHG has introduced a combination of virtual clinics and actual attendances in its general outpatients department clinics and oncology clinics in line with national guidelines to address the challenges presented by Covid-19. Furthermore, as outlined in the national development plan, a new dedicated ambulatory elective-only hospital facility will be provided in Galway. This will provide high-volume, low-complexity procedures on a day and outpatient basis, together with a range of ambulatory diagnostic services. It will create capacity at acute hospital sites and help to reduce the numbers waiting on trolleys, assist in reducing cancellations and acute hospital footfall, and drive down waiting lists for outpatient and inpatient day cases. Work is ongoing on a draft preliminary business case. The Department and the HSE will continue working to improve the emergency department waiting times for all patients.

The Senator asked about the former Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, sending a team from the Department. I will bring that issue to the current Minister.