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Hospital Services

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 November 2018

Tuesday, 13 November 2018

Questions (368)

Mary Butler

Question:

368. Deputy Mary Butler asked the Minister for Health to outline his plans to expedite discharge from acute hospitals due to the fact that 136,239 delayed discharges were registered at various hospitals in 2018; his views on whether delayed discharges are caused in some instances due to the lack of home care supports being provided in community home settings; and his further views on the fact that the waiting list has now reached 6,000 persons waiting for home care supports. [46762/18]

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Written answers

In recent years there has been a sustained focus on reducing delayed discharges and enabling patients to be discharged from hospital as soon as possible after the acute phase of their treatment has been completed. The additional funding provision received has made a significant impact on delayed discharges, reducing them from a high of 832 in October 2014 to a low of 436 in 2016. At the end of 2017 there were 471 delayed discharges. The HSE has reported that, as of 6 November 2018, there are 618 cases of delayed discharges. Following Budget 2019, an additional €10 million has been provided in 2018 to anticipate and manage critical demand pressures on the health service. The HSE has been requested to prioritise social care measures, with a focus on measures to support older people to transition from acute care to the most appropriate setting.

Over the past number of years, improving access to home support has been a priority for Government, this can be seen by the way that the home support budget has grown from €306 million in 2015 to €418 million in 2018. Overall, the 2018 HSE National Service Plan provides for over 17 million home support hours to be delivered to 50,500 people at any time. In addition, a further 156,000 hours, relating to adverse weather funding, were provided from Spring 2018. Intensive Home Care Packages will be delivered to approximately 235 people at any time and will deliver approximately a further 360,000 hours in the full year. Despite this significant level of service provision demand continues to rise. All those waiting are assessed and provided with a service if appropriate, as soon as possible having regard to their assessed needs. Transitional Care, if appropriate, is arranged through utilising patient and family choice of provider. The total number of transitional care approvals to date in 2018 is 9,595.

In relation to delayed discharges, I established a working group to undertake an independent expert review of delayed discharges in acute hospitals. This review was requested to focus on the effectiveness and consistency of current data collection, collation and reporting and consider how the measurement and management of delayed discharges could be improved. The report was provided to me on 1st November, and I and my officials will now consider the content of same.

Discussions between the Department and the Health Service Executive in relation to National Service Planning for next year are well underway.

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