Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)
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166. To ask the Minister for Health if, given the serious risks to patient safety identified in the recent HIQA report into urgent and emergency care in the Midwest, she will outline in detail all steps her office and her Department have taken to engage with the regional senior executive team in the Midwest to mitigate those risks; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60220/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Government is fully committed to improving services in the Mid West region, including at UHL.

In April 2024, the Government announced a package of measures to increase capacity, address overcrowding and deescalate the pressure experienced in the UHL Emergency Department. These measures included increasing bed capacity, initiatives to divert patients from ED attendance as well as increasing staffing levels and further implementation of the Framework for Safe Nurse Staffing.

Investment in the hospitals in the region has increased from €370 million in 2019 to €689 million in 2024. The UHL budget has increased from €265 million to €507 million in the same period.

Staffing at the hospital has grown by 53% since Dec 2019. This includes 300 more WTE doctors (including consultants), 571 more nurses and midwives, as well as 163 more health and social care professionals.

Alongside advice and considerations for the future of services in the Mid West, the HIQA report published on September 30th has demonstrated that improvements are continuing to be made at UHL and across the Mid West.

There is good use of local injury and medical assessment units, and many interventions that can have a positive effect on patient experience time and the best use of the Emergency Department have been successfully rolled out.

Recent implemented measures include the virtual ward initiative, Advanced Nurse Practitioners to look after less severely ill patients, discharge coordinators in UHL, and the ‘Pathfinder’ and ‘ED in the home’ initiatives.

The Programme for Government commits to continue to increase capacity and open more beds at UHL and across the Mid West and to take account of all of the HIQA recommendations.

The HIQA review identified three potential options for consideration, and I and my Department are reviewing the extensive evidence base in detail before reporting back to Government.