Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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46. To ask the Minister for Health the status of his efforts to improve overcrowding challenges at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42714/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Last December I convened the ED Taskforce to provide focus and momentum in dealing with the challenges presented by ED overcrowding. Significant progress has been made to date on the ED Taskforce Plan implementation

Additional funding of €117m has been provided in 2015 to relieve pressures on acute hospitals including reducing delayed discharges, lowering the waiting time for Fair Deal funding and providing additional transitional care beds and home care packages. Funding has been made available to support the acute hospital system over the winter period by providing additional bed capacity and other initiatives to support access to care.

A new modular build was recently opened at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital consisting of an eight bay Clinical Decision Unit, a four bay Surgical Assessment Unit and 12 in-patient beds are opening which will allow the hospital to release this cohort of patients from the Emergency Department. This will facilitate appropriate space for patient streaming, observation and treatment in a designated space. Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is one of the sites that have been the subject of particular focus with the SDU in supporting them to implement solutions.

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 co-signed the ED Congestion Escalation Directive recently to ensure that progress made to date on overcrowding is sustained and deepened. The Directive requires hospitals to implement their Escalation Plan whenever the Emergency Department experiences overcrowding and it is expected that this will add to the progress made on overcrowding so far.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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47. To ask the Minister for Health the measures that are being put in place to address the ongoing overcrowding in the emergency department in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43011/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Last December I convened the ED Taskforce to assist in dealing with the challenges presented by ED overcrowding. Significant progress has been made to date on the ED Taskforce Plan implementation .

Additional funding of €117m has been provided in 2015 to relieve pressures on acute hospitals including reducing delayed discharges, lowering the waiting time for Fair Deal funding and providing additional transitional care beds and home care packages. Funding has been made available to support the acute hospital system over the winter period by providing additional bed capacity and other initiatives to support access to care.

A new modular build was recently opened at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital consisting of an eight bay Clinical Decision Unit, a four bay Surgical Assessment Unit and 12 in-patient beds are opening which will allow the hospital to release this cohort of patients from the Emergency Department. This will facilitate appropriate space for patient streaming, observation and treatment in a designated space. Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital is one of the sites that have been the subject of particular focus with the SDU in supporting them to implement solutions.

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 co-signed the ED Congestion Escalation Directive recently to ensure that progress made to date on overcrowding is sustained and deepened. The Directive requires hospitals to implement their Escalation Plan whenever the Emergency Department experiences overcrowding and it is expected that this will add to the progress made on overcrowding so far.