Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 630: To ask the Minister for Health the immediate steps being taken to alleviate overcrowding at the accident and emergency department of Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34688/11]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 631: To ask the Minister for Health in view of the problems in individual hospitals whether he will outline the funding and steps which are being taken in each emergency department under his recently approved initiative to ease pressures in certain emergency departments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34709/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 630 and 631 together.

I have said very clearly on many occasions that the situation in our hospital emergency departments where people must wait for unacceptably long periods on trolleys will not be allowed to continue. For this reason, one of my first actions as Minister for Health was to set about establishing the Special Delivery Unit. The problems in our emergency departments are complex and they did not arise overnight. The particular issues vary from hospital to hospital and some of the solutions will depend on local factors.

The SDU is establishing an infrastructure based on information collection and analysis, hospital by hospital, so that we will know what is actually happening in real time. It is providing information tools for hospital managers, including clinical managers, to map and measure bed capacity in their hospital depending on variations, for example, in the average length of stay of patients. This will allow us to begin to embed performance management in the system, to manage bed capacity and to sustain shorter waiting times.

As part of the process of forming the overall picture of the emergency departments situation nationally, the SDU has identified fifteen hospitals which between them account for 80% of the trolley wait problem in the hospital system. Eight Hospitals have been identified for very high support including Beaumont. Liaison Officers from the SDU are working pro-actively to support these sites.

I have also agreed that some additional funding may be provided, on a strictly once-off basis, based on specific proposals from the hospitals to reduce waiting times between now and the end of the year which will help to address issues such as delayed discharges. Adherence to the agreed criteria will be closely monitored by the SDU.

Funding has been agreed for Beaumont (over €400,000), Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda (over €700,000), the Mater (over €700,000) St Vincent's/ St Colmcille's (over €440,000), Tallaght Hospital (over €300,000),Galway University Hospital (over €340,000), Cork University Hospital (over €400,000) and Connolly (€270,000). Further consideration is being given to other proposals including one in respect of Limerick Regional Hospital.

The conditions and performance measures which Beaumont and other hospitals will have to meet are as follows; for the remainder of the year and throughout January 2012 no patient will wait more than 23 hours in the hospital's Emergency Department. In addition the trolley wait target must be maintained at least 70% below the maximum daily trolley count since January 2010. Other conditions/performance measures include: · Seven day ward/discharge rounds; · Achievement of all Acute Medicine Programme milestones; and · Implementation of approved measures to effectively stream elderly

patients.