Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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1015. To ask the Minister for Health the projections for demand for winter 2020/2021; the plans being put in place to meet the demand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21173/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As a result of the significant impact of Covid-19 on routine health services, the health system is facing unprecedented challenges for the delivery of services. Resuming health and social care services and building health sector capacity and capability is a priority for the Government.

The HSE has developed a draft Plan which contains proposals for health service delivery for Winter 2020 to the end of 2021 and this is currently under review by my Department and the HSE.

The draft Plan has been formulated in the context of increasing demand for unscheduled care, the need to support continuity and resumption of elective services for non-Covid-19 healthcare, and the requirement to continue delivering essential healthcare in a Covid-19 context. The Plan comprises targeted initiatives to address population health needs which combine the need to shift care to home and ambulatory care environments, especially for high-risk cohorts such as elderly patients and those with chronic illnesses.

The Plan indicates the need for zero tolerance for overcrowding in care settings and acknowledges that this will require additional capacity in both acute and community care services. The various initiatives proposed in the Plan will aim to decrease acute hospital demand by enhancing community capacity, reduce unnecessary acute hospital admissions by enhancing alternative community care pathways, enable timely discharges from acute hospitals, and consequently reduce waiting times in hospital emergency departments.

The HSE is undertaking work to model and project expected demand for Winter 2020 and 2021 as part of this planning process, and these projections are expected to be included in the final Plan.