Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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85. To ask the Minister for Health his views on new statistics which highlight that nearly 50,000 patients are leaving emergency departments annually, due to long waiting times; and his plans to tackle unacceptably long waiting times in emergency departments. [13742/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Pressures on Emergency Departments have been rising, given an ageing and growing population.

ED attendances have been significantly higher this year, particularly in Quarter 1. To date, the HSE has reported an average increase in attendances of nearly 6% compared with the same period last year. Despite attendance increases, TrolleyGar numbers in Quarter 1 2016 are similar to those for 2015. Furthermore, figures for May 2016 show total numbers of patients on trolleys are approximately 18% lower than in May 2015, with numbers waiting over 9 hours approximately 24% lower.

The HSE maintains records on service users who register at an ED and choose to leave without actively discharging themselves. Figures for March 2016 indicate that 3.9% of ED patients ‘did not wait’ to complete their episode of care, which is within the internationally accepted safe target of less than 5%.

It is important to note that patient experience times have improved in April 2016 with 67.6% of patients being admitted or discharged within 6 hours and 81.7% within 9 hours.

Reducing the wait times for patients attending EDs is a priority for this Government. Investments in capital expansion are ongoing (new EDs have been completed in the Mater and Wexford Hospitals and are planned in Beaumont and Galway). 366 extra beds have been opened or re-opened. A review of bed capacity in our health service, coupled with a review of Medical Assessment Unit hours are further key commitments intended to alleviate ED overcrowding.