Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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148. To ask the Minister for Health if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding accident and emergency departments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22709/15]

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 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 convened the ED Taskforce in December 2014 to provide focus and momentum in dealing with the challenges presented by ED overcrowding. Reflecting the wide range of experience and perspectives represented on the Taskforce, the resulting action plan presented a range of time defined actions to (i) optimise existing hospital and community capacity; (ii) develop internal capability and process improvement and (iii) improve leadership, governance, planning and oversight.

The most immediate actions listed have already commenced, supported by an initial €25 million in 2014 to support services that provide alternatives to, and relieve pressure on, acute hospitals. Additional funds of €74 million have been provided in 2015 to increase the number of long term nursing home care places and reduce the waiting time for the funding of such places, as well as providing additional transitional care beds and home care packages to provide viable supports for those no longer needing acute hospital care.

All of these actions are intended to enable the HSE to deliver my stated objective of reducing the number of patients with 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 70.