Regina Doherty
Ceist:151 Deputy Regina Doherty asked the Minister for Health the impact of the special delivery unit in Our Lady’s Hospital, Drogheda, County Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29821/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 20 June 2012
Ceisteanna (151, 152)
Regina Doherty
Ceist:152 Deputy Regina Doherty asked the Minister for Health the impact of the special delivery unit on James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29822/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 151 and 152 together.
Improving access for patients to both unscheduled and scheduled care in hospitals across the country is central to the role of the Special Delivery Unit which I established in my Department. Since the SDU become operational in September 2011, it has worked closely with a range of hospitals across the country including Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda and Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown. Both hospitals work closely with the SDU Liaison Officer and there are weekly meetings held with the management teams of both hospitals along with representation from management of the local community services. In addition to discussing current performance issues and trends, the Liaison Officer works with the hospitals to improve patient pathways and develop and improve operational issues.
While the provision of funding is not a core function of the SDU, there are limited resources available to assist hospitals to meet its targets in relation to unscheduled and scheduled care. With regard to unscheduled care (Emergency Departments) funding was made available to Our Lady of Lourdes and Connolly Hospitals as part of the successful SDU initiative in 2011 to ensure that the number of patients waiting in ED was kept to a minimum over the Christmas and New Year periods. A limited amount of funding has also been made available in 2012 to assist the hospitals to meet their targets in relation to trolley waits. In relation to Connolly Hospital, funding related to opening additional bed capacity for short-periods and also to fund an initiative for hospital avoidance for older persons run by the Geriatricians. In relation to Our Lady of Lourdes, funding has been made available for an initiative involving Community/Hospital Liaison, Weekend Liaison Nurse and Home Support to enable earlier discharge home and avoid hospital admissions. In addition, I have made funding available to Our Lady of Lourdes to facilitate the opening of 11 acute medical beds to cover a bed capacity shortage identified by the National Acute Medicine Programme.
To date the SDU interventions in relation to unscheduled care have resulted in a reduction in the number of patients waiting on trolleys in ED. In relation to Connolly Hospital, up to 8 June 2012, there has been a reduction of 12.6% in the numbers waiting on trolleys when compared with the same period in 2011. In relation to Our Lady of Lourdes the reduction has been 18%. With regard to Scheduled Care (In-patient and Day Case Surgery) last year, I instructed all hospitals that no person should be waiting more than 12 months for surgery by the end of the year. The scheduled care access targets set for public hospitals for 2012 are that no adult should wait longer than 9 months for surgery, no child should wait more than 20 weeks for surgery and no person requiring a routine GI endoscopy should wait more than 13 weeks.
Our Lady of Lourdes reached the 2011 12 month target with some targeted assistance for a small number of cases from the NTPF. In this year the hospital is progressing towards the 2012 access targets assisted by a targeted programme of support agreed between OLOL and the NTPF. This support is directed towards adult ENT, Urology and GI endoscopy procedures and also towards paediatric ENT and General surgery. These are the areas where the greatest challenges, in terms of faster access times for procedures, exist. Connolly Hospital also reached the end 2011 12 month maximum waiting time target. The hospital has agreed a programme of support with the NTPF in order to ensure delivery of the 2012 maximum access times targets for adults, children and for routine GI endoscopy procedures. This support is focussed on General Surgery, GI endoscopy and on Respiratory Medicine.