Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 17: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her views on whether the situation in hospital accident and emergency departments constitutes a national emergency in view of the fact that the number of patients on trolleys and chairs reached 500 on 20 January 2010; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6747/10]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 22: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the action she will take to tackle the number of patients waiting on trolleys in accident and emergency, which was recorded by a union (details supplied) at an unprecedented height of 500 during January 2010; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6870/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 and 22 together.

A small number of Emergency Departments have been recording high numbers of patients waiting to be admitted to hospital in recent weeks. However, detailed sampling from 24 hospitals, which began in February last year, to the end of December indicate that 87% of all patients attending an ED were either discharged or admitted within the maximum target of 6 hours, and 94% of all patients who did not require an admission were discharged within this time. I don't think that the "trolleycount" figures for patients awaiting admission are an adequate indicator of performance in EDs as they only record the waiting time from when a decision has been taken to admit. From the end of March, the HSE will record waiting time from when a patient arrives in the Emergency Department. This will be a far more meaningful record of patients' experience in EDs.

I have been monitoring the situation in Emergency Departments very closely. I met with the Chairperson, CEO and members of the HSE management team recently to review progress and to ensure that all possible steps are being taken to minimise the waiting time for patients awaiting admission. I asked the HSE to streamline the administrative processes for dealing with applications under the Fair Deal so that patients' discharge to a suitable long-stay facility is not delayed unnecessarily. The HSE has put several actions in train including:

Escalation plans to enable patients to be moved to wards,

Additional ward rounds to take place daily to help earlier discharges from hospitals, and

Ensuring access to additional diagnostic facilities such as imaging to allow earlier decisions about admission or discharge.

At my request, the HSE is also putting place a system of early warning measures so that corrective action is taken as soon as problems in a particular hospital are identified. Hospitals have also been instructed to ensure that all escalation measures are implemented and reviewed as necessary and that appropriate liaison arrangements with primary and community services are in place.