Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Health the average waiting time on trolleys at the start of 2012; the comparable figure at the start of 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16490/12]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Building on the achievements of 2011, the Special Delivery Unit (SDU) will work with the National Treatment Purchase Fund, the HSE Clinical Programmes and hospitals to minimise patient waiting times in emergency departments along with reducing waiting periods for in-patient and day case elective surgical care.

The SDU is currently working on a refined methodology for recording Emergency Department waiting times for patients (PET) across the system. It is planned to have a number of hospitals reporting on the basis of the PET method by the second quarter of 2012. Work will continue to bring the remaining hospitals on stream as quickly as possible. Full PET data for individual hospitals will be published when it comes on stream and in the interim, data derived from sampling will be used. During 2012, the SDU will extend the coverage of the Patient Experience Time methodology to ensure that the data is captured in a uniform manner across the hospital system.

In relation to the Deputy's question regarding trolley wait times the Business Information Unit of the HSE collects data from the INMO on trolley waits. I can confirm that there has been a reduction in numbers of people waiting on trolleys. However these trends will be better demonstrated when the new system for recording Emergency Department data is implemented later this year.