Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 March 2012
191 Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the basis on which he intends to standardise the calculation of accident and emergency waiting times; if the current method of calculating waiting times will continue to be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14548/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraBuilding on the achievements of 2011, the Special Delivery Unit (SDU) will work with the National Treatment Purchase Fund, the HSE Clinical Programmes and hospitals to minimise patient waiting times in emergency departments along with reducing waiting periods for in-patient and day case elective surgical care. The SDU is currently working on a refined methodology for recording Emergency Department waiting times across the system. This methodology is known as the Patient Experience Time (PET). It is planned to have 21 hospitals reporting using the PET method by the second quarter of 2012. Work will continue to bring the remaining hospitals on stream as quickly as possible.
During 2012, the SDU will extend the coverage of the Patient Experience Time methodology to ensure that the data are captured in a uniform manner across the hospital system. Details of Emergency Department waiting times will continue to be published in the HSE's website under the Monthly Performance Report (PR) using a combination of full PET and sampling PET data. Full PET data for individual hospitals will be published when it comes on stream and in the interim, data derived from sampling will be used.
