Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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1241. To ask the Minister for Health the number of times the emergency department task force has met in the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1387/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Emergency Department Taskforce (EDTF) was convened in December 2014 to provide focus and momentum in dealing with the challenges presented by ED overcrowding. The EDTF Implementation Oversight Group has met seven times over the course of 2016 and into 2017; most recently on the 6th January 2017.

On 9 September 2016, the HSE launched the 'Winter Initiative Plan 2016 - 2017' which has provided €40 million of additional funding for winter preparedness. The initiative has been developed to manage the expected winter surge in demand for hospital care in an integrated way across Primary, Acute and Social Care.

As part of this Initiative the Minister for Health and his Department meet with the senior management of the HSE on a weekly basis to oversee implementation of the Winter Initiative and monitor performance in EDs. Since the start of 2017, this group has met 4 times to deal with the current pressure on EDs.

At a meeting on 5 January 2017, the HSE announced a series of enhanced measures as part of the existing Winter Initiative Plan. These measures focus particularly on augmenting the supports for primary and community care and targeting of acute capacity, and are designed to alleviate the current significant demands on EDs as a result of the increased numbers of patients attending at this time of year, compounded by the current spike in flu-like illnesses and the winter vomiting bug.

The enhanced measures under the Winter Initiative include:

- the opening of 63 additional acute hospital beds in addition to the 35 beds already opened this winter; of these the HSE have advised around 40 have opened;

- access to 60 additional transitional care beds for targeted hospitals (Galway, Clonmel, Wexford, St. Vincent’s, St. James, Tallaght, Drogheda, Beaumont, Mater, and Connolly) immediately (for the next four weeks) for patients who would otherwise have to remain in an acute hospital bed while their nursing home application is being completed;

- the utilisation of additional capacity in certain private hospitals to support the public hospital system;

- additional access to diagnostic services for GPs, supporting nursing homes in the management of flu;

- enhanced discharge processes between hospitals and CHOs and continued dissemination to the public of information on the Flu Vaccination and the “Under the Weather”.

The work of the EDTF and Implementation of the Winter Initiative is supported by the work of the Special Delivery Unit (SDU) of the HSE on the ground supporting process improvement and the delivery of key targets at sites throughout the country.