Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 28 Jun 2000

Vol. 522 No. 3

Written Answers. - Accident and Emergency Services.

Brendan Howlin

Ceist:

24 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Health and Children the investigation that has been held into the circumstances in which an 85 year old person (details supplied) who had been injured in a bus accident, was left waiting for 14 hours for treatment in the casualty unit of St. James's Hospital on 13 December 1999, particularly having regard to the fact that she died a short time later; if it is intended to review the procedures for assessing the medical requirements of patients in casualty departments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18540/00]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin):

I would like to avail of this opportunity to offer my sincere condolences to the family of the person concerned. I consider it totally unacceptable that any patient, but especially an elderly patient, should have to endure such long waiting times in accident and emergency departments for necessary medical treatment or admission to an acute hospital ward, especially when the first priority of an accident and emergency department is to provide appropriate care and appropriate treatment for patients presenting with serious injury or illness.

As the Deputy may be aware the provision of health and social services, which includes accident and emergency services, in the eastern region is now a matter for the Eastern Regional Health Authority, ERHA. I have, therefore, asked the regional chief executive of the ERHA to examine the particular case and to forward a full report on it to me.

I want to assure the Deputy that my Department is committed to ensuring that accident and emergency departments are in a position to respond to the need for their services particularly during periods of peak demand. Specific additional funding has been targeted at accident and emergency departments in acute hospitals providing such services, mainly in the eastern region, aimed at the enhancement of accident and emergency services. This additional funding, which amounted to £2 million in 1998, £2.3 million in 1999 and a further £2 million in the current year, was used to fund measures to free up beds for emergency admissions, for enhanced staffing level. for the continued development of treatment-observation areas in accident and emergency departments and for improved access for general practitioners to urgent specialist opinion, amongst other measures.

The hospitals themselves seek to manage surges in activity by faster throughput of patients through the system, improved admission and dis charge management, re-designation of day care and five-day beds as emergency in-patient facilities, rostering of additional staff where feasible and through the provision of additional long-term care and chronic sick beds outside the hospital setting.

As I have already mentioned, the pressures with accident and emergency are felt most acutely in the eastern region. The Eastern Regional Health Authority has already decided that improvements in accident and emergency services is a priority matter for the authority this year. It has established a dedicated team to review accident and emergency services in the Eastern region as a whole. From this review the authority intends to put forward a comprehensive policy for accident and emergency services which it expects will overcome many of the problems currently experienced in accident and emergency departments.

The authority has stated that it will be seeking to redress any imbalance in emergency care in terms of access, timeliness, appropriateness, and quality. In particular, the review will examine issues such as the physical and human resource requirements to reduce waiting times for treatment and admission in accident and emergency departments. The review will also seek to improve emergency access to treatment through a detailed examination of policies, procedures and protocols for emergency services. It will also consider the provision of alternative care options for persons presenting with minor injuries. These options will include general practitioner out of hours services in community or hospital settings.

I am confident that this approach will lead to a continued enhancement of our accident and emergency services and will prevent in the future a recurrence of the very regrettable incident referred to by the Deputy.