Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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82. To ask the Minister for Health the number of elective surgeries cancelled in each hospital in 2016 and to date in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4567/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I fully acknowledge the distress and inconvenience for patients and their families when elective procedures are cancelled.

Cancellation of elective procedures can occur for a variety of exceptional reasons including:- cancellations because a bed or the clinical team are not available; cancellations by the patient or because the patient may not be fit for surgery at the time.

Based on data provided by the NTPF, collated from reports by hospitals, approximately 3,400 elective procedures, on average, are cancelled per month. In 2016, typically in a month, there were approximately 53,084 admissions to acute hospitals hospitals on a daycase and an inpatient basis.

The National ED Escalation Framework sets out procedures to be followed in hospitals during periods of high demand for emergency care, to ensure that safe care is provided to all patients. In order to respond to surges in ED demand, under the Framework, hospital managers may, in consultation with the relevant clinical leads, review and cancel non-urgent planned electives, where appropriate. This allows both beds and staff to be redeployed to alleviate pressure in the ED.

The HSE intends to undertake a review of the Escalation Framework in the coming months to ensure its effectiveness. It is essential that hospitals continue to improve how they manage, and balance, the demand for emergency care with the planning of elective procedures, to minimise the impact on patients.

In addition, it is important that the HSE continues to improve its processes to minimise the number sessions lost when patients cancel or do not attend for their procedures.

The following tabular statement sets out details of the number of elective surgeries cancelled from January 2016 to January 2017, broken down by month.