Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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344. To ask the Minister for Health the number of bed days lost through delayed discharges during the first six months of 2018. [31217/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Minister with Special Responsibility for Mental Health and Older People, Mr. Jim Daly T.D, has established a Working Group to undertake an independent expert review of delayed discharges. The purpose of the review is to identify changes that can be made in the short term to inform planning for Winter 2018/19 and in the medium term to reduce the overall number of delayed discharges in order to minimise delays in moving patients to the most appropriate setting, reduce hospital bed days lost and better address patient needs.

This Group has been requested to report back to Minister Daly by the end of August 2018 with interim recommendations to inform planning for Winter 2018/19 and to bring their final report with full recommendations and an implementation plan to him by the end of September 2018.

In relation to the particular query raised by the Deputy, as the numbers of beds days lost due to delayed discharges in the first six months of 2018 is a service matter, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.