Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 694: To ask the Minister for Health the average waiting time in the accident and emergency department of Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9 since the start of 2012; the immediate steps being taken to reduce the lengthy waiting times in the department; if personnel from outside Ireland are being brought in to get the waiting times reduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15615/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Building on the achievements of 2011 the SDU will work with the NTPF, the HSE Clinical Programmes and hospitals to minimise patient waiting times in emergency departments and reduce waiting periods for in patient and day case elective surgical care. The improvements already won have to be secured and continually improved upon. There is a specific SDU liaison process in place for all of these hospitals with varying degrees of intensity commensurate with the issues on the ground in each location.

The next phase of work by the SDU, which will encompass these six hospitals, will include:

· February 2012 begun to see the focus in ED turn to patient journey time monitoring (along with trolley waits) as part of the new national score card for measuring performance.

· Unscheduled Care Target to be introduced in 2012: Ensure that 95% of all attendees at EDs are discharged or admitted within 6 hours of registration, and that those who need to be admitted through ED wait no more than 9 hours from registration.

· Scheduled Care Targets to be introduced in 2012: Move to reduce maximum waiting time for elective surgery to 9 months or less. 20 weeks or less for elective paediatric procedures. Endoscopy procedures the target is 13 weeks.

· Set targets for improved access to outpatient (OPD) services in the first quarter of 2012.

· The introduction of hospital groups will provide further opportunities for inter site cooperation Although achieving these targets will be challenging given the difficult budgetary position the health services are facing I am encouraged by the recent successes of the SDU.

By the end of 2011 very significant progress was made on the two key SDU priority initiatives for 2011 in relation to trolley waits and the 12 month maximum waiting time target for elective in patient and day case surgery. Following on from the 27% reduction nationally in 2011, the number waiting on our trolleys continues to fall in 2012. The cumulative number waiting on trolleys from 1 January 2012 to 16 March 2012 is 17% less than the previous year.

The SDU continues to work on an ongoing basis with Beaumont Hospital through its Liaison Officer process. Following a competitive tendering process, the SDU has appointed a Director of Performance Improvement in Scheduled Care to manage the improvement process. The successful person will take up duty on 26th March 2012 and will bring extensive knowledge of the UK and Irish Health Services to bear on the key issues in ED. The specific data requested by the Deputy is not readily available in my Department. I will revert to the Deputy shortly on this matter.