Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 November 2013
1046. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health if the criteria he uses for measuring waiting times in emergency Departments are comparable internationally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45762/13]
View answerThere are no international norms or agreed standards regarding total ED times. The primary purpose of ED waiting time standards is to measure and monitor the acute hospital’s ability to provide timely access to in-patient beds and sustain patient flow through the ED.
A 6-hour ED time standard is used in New Zealand. A 4-hour total ED time standard was introduced in the UK in 2001. Their current standard is that 95% of patients should be discharged or admitted from EDs within 4 hours and no patient should wait more than 6 hours. Some Australian states have also adopted a 4-hour standard. There is no agreed standard in the US or in Canada, although the same measurement of time waiting is also used.
It is important to acknowledge that the number of patients waiting for admission on trolleys is also a measure of waiting. Trolleys are unfortunately an international phenomenon, occurring in the US, Australia and the UK. They remain an undesirable feature of the Irish Health Services, even though the work of Special Delivery Unit that I established has led to a significant improvement. As of 25 October, the year to date improvement is 12.7%, which translates into 7,146 fewer trolleys reported by the INMO in 2013 when compared to 2012. When compared to 2011, the percentage improvement is 33.6%, equivalent to 24,744 fewer trolleys.
