Written Answers. - Accident and Emergency Services.
Gay Mitchell
Ceist:
26
Mr. G. Mitchell
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
if his attention has been drawn to the chaotic state of the accident and emergency departments in many hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[28755/00]
The Deputy will appreciate that the levels of attendances at accident and emergency departments, particularly those in the eastern region, are complex and cannot be predicted accurately in advance. In this regard periods of exceptional demand may be experienced and waiting periods for treatment may vary. This is particularly the case during the winter period. However, every effort is being made to keep waiting times to an absolute minimum and I want to assure the Deputy that patients receive appropriate medical treatment at all times.
I cannot accept that a chaotic state obtains in many of our accident and emergency departments. My Department is committed to ensuring that they 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 enhancing 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 levels, 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. Part of this additional funding is used to fund a public education campaign aimed at increasing public awareness regarding the appropriate use of accident and emergency departments with a particular emphasis on persuading persons with minor ailments to attend their general practitioner rather than an accident and emergency department in an acute hospital.
I also recognise that the development and enhancement of hospital accident and emergency departments is vital if we are to attain an efficient quality service, and examples of this include the development of the accident and emergency departments at St. Vincent's Hospital, Elm Park, Cork University Hospital and Tullamore General Hospital which have been approved by my Department as part of overall developments at these hospitals. These projects will begin construction in 2001. In addition, a major proposal for the expansion of the existing accident and emergency department at St. James's Hospital has also recently been approved by my Department.
As I have already indicated, pressures on accident and emergency services are felt most acutely in the eastern region and the improvement of these services has already been identified as a priority matter for the Eastern Regional Health Authority. 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 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.
For patients who require admission to hospital, the shortage of sub-acute beds has caused problems in that acute hospitals have not been able to discharge patients in sufficient numbers and quickly enough, to cater for new patients requiring admission to the hospital, particularly those in accident and emergency departments.
In order to respond to this I recently announced a £25 million investment package which is aimed at alleviating anticipated service pressures and maintaining services to patients, particularly in the acute hospital sector, over the winter period. The investment package is being targeted at a number of key service areas which includes a proposal to recruit an additional 25 accident and emergency consultants and an additional 15 consultant anaesthetists. Also included is the provision of funding for the contracting of at least 500 additional private nursing home places by the Eastern Regional Health Authority, and the health boards. The ERHA and the health boards are in the process of contracting these beds at present. I am satisfied that this part of the initiative will have a significant impact on the problem of inappropriate use of acute hospital beds with immediate consequential benefits to accident and emergency departments.
