Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 272: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will make a statement on the progress to date of the implementation of the recommendations made by the Emergency Department Task Force Report to set a date for the introduction of a maximum six hour wait time on arrival to admission or discharge. [11477/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Emergency Department Task Force Report was commissioned by the Health Service Executive and published in June 2007. The Report set out a series of recommendations for action to improve service delivery and included a particular emphasis on the introduction of waiting time targets for patients attending emergency departments. The report also described a range of initiatives which would enable hospitals to comply with these targets.

Significant additional resources have been provided to address the problems which manifest in Emergency Departments. Among the developments which have taken place in line with the recommendations of the Task Force Report are

additional public and private Long Stay Beds,

additional Home Care Packages and Home Help Hours,

major capital developments in emergency departments and the provision of Acute Medical Assessment Units.

Hospital in the Home Service in the greater Dublin area.

Community Intervention Teams in Cork, Limerick and Dublin.

Rapid assessment clinics to support the catchment population of the Mater hospital.

Expansion of the GP out of hours services in North Dublin.

In terms of waiting times, a revised target of 12 hours waiting from decision to admit was introduced in October 2007. This built on an initial maximum target waiting time of 24 hours. The HSE is also committed to monitoring and reporting on the total length of time patients spend in Emergency Departments, whether they are admitted or not. A number of hospitals have commenced reporting this information and the HSE expects to be in a position to publish data on up to 18 hospitals in the next few months.

The HSE is also working closely with those hospitals which are experiencing difficulties in meeting waiting time targets. The focus is on improving and streamlining hospital processes and patient pathways to ensure that care is provided in a more timely, appropriate and efficient manner. Targeted initiatives include:

setting up consultant led Clinical Decision Units and Acute Short Stay Units with a dedicated number of beds,

integrated discharge planning implemented on a 7 day basis, including nurse facilitated discharges,

updating the bed management system and processes with a focus on improved discharge planning,

reducing inappropriate referrals from GPs to Emergency Departments,

reducing admissions with the duty medical registrar deciding on admissions,

standardising assessment processes,

enhancing diagnostic capacity.

These initiatives which I have described are designed, inter alia, to free up capacity during 2008, to allow for more timely admissions from Emergency Departments and further movement towards a lower target of 6 hours waiting from decision to admit in line with the recommendation of the Task Force report.