Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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389. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to tackle the expected surge in trolley numbers and the expected overcrowding in accident and emergency departments in the event of winter vomiting bug occurring; and the contingencies in place in this regard [42938/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Firstly, I wish to acknowledge the distress for patients and their families, and the impact on staff, caused by cramped and overcrowded conditions in some of our hospital Emergency Departments (EDs). ED overcrowding, and long patient waiting times for emergency care, are of critical concern within the health service and tackling this issue remains a key priority for my Department.

In general, demand in EDs reaches a more intense peak during the winter period. Therefore, there is a requirement for winter planning and preparedness to be undertaken, to provide assurance that safe and effective care will be provided over the winter months given the additional anticipatory pressures arising from, for example influenza, norovirus and severe weather.

As such, Hospital Groups, Community Health Organisations and hospitals are all currently in the process of developing integrated winter plans to cover the period October 2017 to March 2018. These plans have been submitted to the HSE for consideration and approval in the coming weeks.

In compliance with the Escalation Directive, all hospitals with EDs have contingency plans in place, to be implemented as required in times of high demand.

My Department continues to work intensively with the HSE to address the challenges, and monitor performance, in our EDs.