Comhairle na nOspidéal is the statutory body whose main function is to regulate appointments of consultant medical staff in hospitals providing services under the Health Acts and to specify qualifications for such appointments. At my request An Comhairle undertook a review of the structures, operation and staffing of accident and emergency departments in acute hospitals providing such services. The report, published in February 2002, deals with staffing of accident and emergency departments at consultant level and links reform of accident and emergency departments with the need to look critically at hospital processes and patient flows. An Comhairle did not specify the minimum number of patients per consultant in emergency medicine in its report. Instead it stated:
Consultants in Emergency Medicine play a key clinical and managerial role in Emergency Departments. The appointment of additional Consultants should contribute to improvements in patient care and the flow of patients through the Emergency Department. However, appointing additional Consultants in Emergency Medicine, without changes in the organisation of Emergency Departments and hospital emergency care, will have little impact.
The report provides valuable advice on the structures of our emergency services and the necessary linkages which will be required to eliminate the delays in emergency departments. In terms of manpower the report recommends a total of 74 consultants in emergency medicine nationally and recognises that the implementation of this recommendation will take time.
I was pleased to announce a €40.63 million investment package aimed at alleviating service pressures and maintaining services to patients, particularly in the acute hospital sector, over the winter period 2000-01. The investment package was targeted at a number of areas, including the recruitment of an additional 29 consultants in emergency medicine, of which three were for the South Eastern Health Board. To date, 17 additional consultants in emergency medicine have been appointed under the initiative and the recruitment process is continuing in respect of the additional appointments. These additional 29 consultants will see the total number of consultants in emergency medicine increase to 50.
Responsibility for the provision of accident and emergency services at St. Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny and the other hospitals in the south eastern region rests with the South Eastern Health Board. The figures, for 2001, in relation to the number of attendances at accident and emergency departments at hospitals in the South Eastern Health Board, are outlined in the following table:
