Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 May 2017
82. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for Health the number of elective surgeries cancelled in each month to March 2017 inclusive; the number of persons whose elective surgery was cancelled or rescheduled more than once in the past year to March 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20219/17]
View answerCancellation of elective procedures can occur for a variety of exceptional reasons including cancellations because a bed or the clinical team are not available, cancellations by the patient or because the patient may not be fit for surgery at the time.
Maintaining scheduled care access for all patients and managing emergency demand at times is challenging, however all efforts are made to limit cancellations particularly for clinically urgent procedures.
Based on data provided by the NTPF, collated from reports by hospitals, approximately 3,400 elective procedures, on average, are cancelled per month. In 2016, typically in a month, there were approximately 53,000 admissions to acute hospitals on a daycase and an inpatient basis.
The National ED Escalation Framework sets out procedures to be followed in hospitals during periods of high demand for emergency care, to ensure that safe care is provided to all patients. In order to respond to surges in ED demand, under the Framework, hospital managers may, in consultation with the relevant clinical leads, review and cancel non-urgent planned electives, where appropriate. This allows both beds and staff to be redeployed to alleviate pressure in the ED.
It is essential that hospitals continue to improve how they manage, and balance, the demand for emergency care with the planning of elective procedures to minimise the impact on patients. In addition, it is important that the HSE continues to improve its processes to minimise the number sessions lost when patients cancel or do not attend for their procedures.
Over recent years activity in acute hospitals has increased, with the total number of discharges of inpatients and daycases rising around 34% between 2006 and 2015. Our hospitals are now carrying out four times more procedures in patients aged 65 years and over, and twice as many in the under 65 age group since 2000. Last year alone there was a 4% increase in inpatient and daycase activity over 2015, and in 2016 almost 1.69 million patients received inpatient or daycase treatment in our hospitals, an increase of almost 40,000 on the previous year.
In response to the particular query raised, I have asked the HSE to provide the specific details and I will forward these on to the deputy when they are received.
Question No. 83 withdrawn.
