Pádraig O'Sullivan
Question:2045. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Health his plans to tackle the ongoing trolley crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41905/22]
View answerTuesday, 26 July 2022
Questions (2045)
Written answers
I have personally witnessed the challenging conditions for patients and staff in emergency departments during recent hospital visits. I have requested that the HSE set out short-term immediate actions to alleviate the pressure on EDs and ensure that our hospitals are ready for winter. I also requested the development of a longer-term plan for reform and improvement of unscheduled care, in line with expected increases in demand driven by population growth and an aging population. This plan will build on the substantial investment over the past two years in initiatives such as additional capacity, more staff, increased home care packages and greater GP access to diagnostics.
I met with senior officials from the HSE recently and was updated on progress in developing plans and I instructed the HSE to urgently commence the implementation of all feasible short-term actions, in advance of finalising the plans, to mitigate pressure at each ED.
My Department and the HSE will continue to work together to develop a programme building on these measures with a suite of longer-term actions to deliver systemic change to how unscheduled care is delivered. The overarching aim of this programme is to transform unscheduled care delivery across the full patient flow continuum in a structured, systemised and governed manner which is measurable and sustainable. This programme will adopt a 3-year phased approach.
The programme will be developed according to the ‘Five Fundamentals of Unscheduled Care’, which were designed and developed as an integrated framework to support sustainable and scalable unscheduled care improvement in line with the Sláintecare vision and goals. The Fundamentals were developed through an international review of published frameworks for improving unscheduled care performance. The five areas of focus are:
- Leadership, Culture and Governance
- Patient Flow at Pre-Admission
- Patient Flow at Post-Admission
- Integrated Community and Hospital Services
- Using Information to support sustainable Performance Improvement.
The patient will be at the centre of all initiatives. This framework follows a robust programmatic approach ensuring a standardised improvement approach is taken nationally while allowing for local bespoke improvement initiatives to be developed and locally owned. Enablers including data, reporting systems and project management will be provided in order to effect and sustain change. The approach is underpinned by the ethos – ‘clinically led, excellently managed’.