Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 14 Nov 1990

Vol. 402 No. 6

Written Answers - Hospital Delays.

Mary Flaherty

Question:

44 Miss Flaherty asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to complaints of long delays in Temple Street Children's Hospital (details supplied) in Dublin 1; if he is concerned that medical staff are being put under severe pressure; and if he has any plans to improve both staffing and facilities at the hospital.

Minister for Health (Dr. O'Hanlon)

Details supplied by the Deputy referred to an individual case and the hospital authorities have informed me that on the night in question the casualty department experienced a higher number of attendances than usual.

The casualty department at Temple Street Hospital provides a 24-hour, seven day service. It is a very busy casualty department with approximately 55,000 attendances per annum. No child is turned away from its accident and emergency service even though, in certain cases, children could be seen in the first instance by a general practitioner.

The waiting time for any patient attending a casualty unit will be determined by the medical condition of the patient and the pressures on the casualty unit at a particular time. It is totally unrealistic to expect all cases to be seen immediately as would seem to be implied in the Deputy's question. Temple Street Hospital assesses each child on arrival in order to determine the priority of the case. All emergency cases are dealt with immediately; other cases have obviously to wait a longer period for attention.

The Deputy is arguing from the specific to the general and I have no reason to believe that patients attending at Temple Street hospital receive anything other than the highest possible level of care. As far as improvements at the hospital are concerned, I allocated additional moneys last year which had the effect of reopening beds, treating additional patients and reducing waiting lists. In addition two extra casualty officers were assigned to the casualty department in recent months.