Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 December 2013
423. Deputy Seán Kenny asked the Minister for Health if sanctions apply to hospitals if they fail to treat the 90% target of persons who are admitted to wards or who are released within the first nine hours following presentation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51563/13]
View answerThe Special Delivery Unit was established to free up access to acute services by improving the flow of patients through the system. The national targets for Emergency Department wait times are:
- 95% of all new Emergency Department patients to wait less than 6 hours;
- 100% of all new Emergency Department patients to wait less than 9 hours.
The times referred to are 'Patient Experience Time' (PET). This is measured from arrival in the Emergency Department to departure from that Department.
Currently there are no sanctions in relation to access targets for either scheduled care or unscheduled care patients. An intensive work programme is ongoing between the SDU's liaison officers, the Clinical Programmes and Hospital teams to pro-actively address delays in patient flow in a positive manner and to achieve the national targets for unscheduled care so that emergency patients may be seen in a timely manner. Sanctions / enforced interventions are being considered for introduction in 2014 by the National Director of Acute Hospitals.
