I propose to take Questions Nos. 400 and 401 together.
Responsibility for the provision of hospital services in the eastern region is, in the first instance, a matter for the Eastern Regional Health Authority. My Department has, therefore, asked the chief executive officer of the Eastern Regional Health Authority to reply directly to the Deputy on the specific information requested on patient and contract bed numbers.
The national treatment purchase fund, NTPF, was established specifically for the purpose of arranging treatment for those public patients who have been waiting longest for treatment. The fund has been successful in locating additional capacity and arranging treatments for approximately 11,000 patients. It is now the case that, in most instances, adults waiting more than six months for an operation and children waiting more than three months will now be facilitated by the fund.
The pressures on acute services, particularly in the eastern region, have been and continue to be the focus of my attention. Officials from my Department have been actively engaging with senior management in the various health agencies in looking for short-term and longer term solutions to these difficulties.
In addition to increasing the acute bed capacity of hospitals in the eastern region as part of the national initiative on acute hospital bed capacity, I have provided an additional €12.6 million, €8.8 million to the ERHA and €3.8 million to the Southern Health Board, to facilitate the discharge of patients from the acute system to a more appropriate setting thereby freeing up acute beds. This funding has resulted in the discharge of over 200 patients from acute hospitals in the eastern region. The ERHA is continuing to monitor the situation and working with hospitals and the area health boards to ensure that every effort is being made to minimise the number of delayed discharges in acute hospitals.