The accident and emergency departments of the six major hospitals in Dublin operate a 24-hour service. The dressing clinic at the Mater Hospital is located within its accident and emergency department. The Mater Hospital has advised me that it has been necessary on recent occasions to cancel the dressing clinic at short notice due to the number of patients attending the accident and emergency department and also due to the number of patients awaiting admission to the hospital from the accident and emergency department.
I have been advised by the Mater Hospital that, in urgent cases, patients have been advised to return to the accident and emergency department to have dressings changed and, where possible, patients have been referred to their local health centres.
The Mater Hospital is at present examining the situation with a view to relocating the Dressing Clinic to another location which would be in close proximity to the Accident and Emergency Department. The hospital is also examining the feasibility of providing additional observation beds at the Accident and Emergency Department.
Because of the nature of the work, it is not possible to predict the workload of hospital Accident and Emergency Departments at any particular time. However, at all times, priority is accorded to those patients most in need of immediate medical attention. Because of the unpredictable nature of the workload which may arise it can happen that on occasion patients must be placed in temporary accommodation pending the availability of more appropriate beds. I can assure the Deputy that every effort is made to keep this practice to a minimum.
The position regarding the Accident and Emergency Departments is monitored by my Department on an ongoing basis. In this regard, shortly after coming into office I approved a sum of £500,000 to provide an immediate response to a problem of this type. In December 1993, following further discussions, I allocated an additional £250,000 to the Eastern Health Board to enable the pressures on the Accident and Emergency Hospitals to be eased. This was achieved through the placing of more than 100 patients from the six major A & E hospitals in Dublin, who were no longer in need of acute hospital care, in step-down accommodation more appropriate to their condition.