Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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12. To ask the Minister for Health if he will act urgently to deal with the crisis of patients being on trolleys in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin 9; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14658/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Reducing Emergency Department overcrowding is a priority issue for me and for the Government. All hospitals, including Beaumont, have escalation plans to manage not only patient flow but also patient safety in a responsive, controlled and planned way that supports and ensures the delivery of optimum patient care.

I am informed that Beaumont Hospital has undertaken a number of initiatives to improve the patient pathway both through the ED and the hospital, in addition to working closely with the community. All available bed capacity is open and off-site capacity is also being utilised.

Three ED-experienced nurses are to join the Emergency Department at Beaumont in the next six weeks and a feasibility study in relation to the redevelopment and potential relocation of its Emergency Department is currently out to tender.

On 2 April I announced additional funding of €74m to tackle delayed discharges and provide additional community beds this freeing up hospital beds for other patients and reducing ED overcrowding. This is on top of measures already taken in Budget 2015 when the Government provided €25m to support services to provide alternatives to and relieve pressures on acute hospitals. This funding should enable the HSE to deliver my stated objective of reducing the number of delayed discharges by one third to less than 500 and the number of patients on trolleys in EDs waiting for admission for over nine hours to fewer than an average of 70. As a hospital with significant numbers of patients who require additional supports or long term care in order to facilitate their safe discharge from acute care, Beaumont will benefit significantly from this funding.