Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 October 2016
555. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the extent to which the existence of primary care centres has affected the number of referrals to accident and emergency at general hospitals throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30974/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraTo date, the HSE has reported a year-on-year increase of approximately 5% in Emergency Department attendances. Despite increased demand, there has been a decrease of almost 5% in numbers of patients waiting on trolleys.
My Department, working with the HSE, has been driving a range of integrated initiatives to alleviate overcrowding in EDs, including: reducing attendances by expanding primary care services, providing additional home help and homecare packages, increasing hospital capacity and improving how hospitals manage demand for emergency care.
Primary care services are being expanded to alleviate pressures on EDs. 92 Primary Care centres have been opened, with 30 at an advanced stage of construction and a further 39 centres at the preliminary stages of development. A project to increase access to diagnostic services in GP surgeries is currently delivering approximately 1,300 ultrasounds per month, while the GP Minor Surgery pilot has delivered just over 4,200 procedures since commencement. Usage of out-of-hours GP services increased by 14% in the first half of 2016, compared with 2015. Thirteen Community Intervention Teams are in place and have reduced hospital bed requirements by approximately 73 beds per day in the first half of 2016. There were nearly 20,000 referrals to CITs in 2015, whereas there have been over 15,000 between January and July 2016.
In September the HSE published the “Winter Initiative 2016 – 2017”, which provides €40 million of additional funding for winter preparedness. Primary care measures under this Initiative include expansion of Community Intervention Team services across 4 sites to support 5 acute hospitals, benefitting over 6,500 additional patients, and an increase in the availability of aids and appliances, benefitting over 3000 patients and facilitating timely hospital discharge.
Additional key deliverables include: providing an additional 950 Home Care Packages which are targeted at nine specific hospitals and the provision of an additional 58 Transitional Care bed approvals weekly. Further, an additional 55 acute beds and 18 additional step-down beds will be made available, while Minor Injury services in Dublin are to be expanded to provide for an additional 100 patients each week. Funding is also provided for an increased focus on flu vaccination of healthcare staff and the wider community.
