Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Renua Ireland)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

36. To ask the Minister for Health the action he is taking to address the overcrowding crisis in the accident and emergency unit in Beaumont Hospital in Dublin 9; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42712/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I convened the ED Taskforce in December 2014 to assist in dealing with the challenges presented by ED overcrowding. Significant progress has been made to date on the ED Taskforce.

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. This includes additional funding for Beaumont Hospital to enable St. Josephs Raheny Day Hospital to provide 5 day service to prevent ED presentation and admission of elderly patients.

Six of the beds at Beaumont which had been closed for refurbishment or infection control purposes during 2015 have re-opened and a further 21 beds are to re-open in December. Beaumont Hospital is one of the sites that have been the subject of particular focus with the SDU in supporting them to implement solutions. Delayed discharge numbers at the hospital have reduced from 95 on 25 November 2014 to 70 on 24 November 2015, thus freeing up 25 beds every day for acutely ill patients.

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 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.