Denis Naughten
Question:31 Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Health the steps he is taking to address the overcrowding crisis at Galway University Hospitals Group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1044/12]
View answerWednesday, 11 January 2012
Questions (38)
Written answers
I have said clearly on many occasions that the situation in our hospital emergency departments where people must wait for unacceptably long periods on trolleys will not be allowed to continue. For this reason, one of my first actions as Minister for Health was to set about establishing the Special Delivery Unit. The unit is establishing an infrastructure based on information collection and analysis, hospital by hospital, so we will know what is happening in real time. It is providing information tools for hospital managers, including clinical managers, to map and measure bed capacity in their hospital depending on variations in for example the average length of stay of patients. This will allow us to begin to embed performance management in the system, to manage bed capacity and to sustain shorter waiting times.
The problems in our emergency departments are complex and did not arise overnight. The particular issues vary from hospital to hospital and some of the solutions will depend on local factors. As part of the process of forming the overall picture of the emergency department situation nationally, the Special Delivery Unit has identified 15 hospitals which between them account for 80% of the trolley wait problem in the hospital system. Eight hospitals have been identified for very high support including Galway. Liaison Officers from the unit are working proactively to support these sites. I have agreed that some additional funding may be provided, on a strictly once-off basis and based on specific proposals from the hospital, to reduce waiting times between 1 November 2011 and 31 January 2012 to help address issues such as delayed discharges. Adherence to the agreed criteria will be closely monitored by the unit.
I will set out the conditions and performance measures that Galway and other hospitals have to meet. For the remainder of 2011 and throughout January 2012, no patient will wait more than 23 hours in the hospital's Emergency Department. In addition, the trolley wait target must be maintained at least 70% below the maximum daily trolley count since January 2010. Other conditions/performance measures include seven-day ward/discharge rounds, the achievement of all Acute Medicine Programme milestones; and the implementation of approved measures to effectively stream elderly patients. In relation to Galway, some €0.35 million was approved to help alleviate emergency department pressures including the extension of the Medical Assessment Unit from 12/24 to 24/24 opening, the opening of an eight-bed, five-day unit; and the provision of off-site convalescence care for a two-week period, two patients per week for the remainder of the period. I am pleased to report that there has been an improvement in the number of patients on trolleys in the period.