Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 November 2022
767. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); if he will ensure that a response issues; and if he will address the points raised. [58163/22]
View answerI can confirm that a response has issued in relation to the particular correspondence to which the Deputy is referring.
I am aware of the current pressures facing Our Lady's Children Hospital Crumlin and I wish to acknowledge the distress overcrowded Emergency Departments cause to patients, their families, and frontline staff working in very challenging conditions in the hospital.
We are experiencing a very challenging start to winter, and already our Emergency Departments are experiencing high levels of daily presentations and congestion.
The HSE Winter Plan for 2022-23 was published on the 11th of October. The Plan will support acute and community services this winter to respond to anticipated high levels of emergency attendances and admissions across the acute sector, long waiting times in EDs, and high occupancy rates in acute hospital settings.
The plan is estimated to cost up to €169 million to implement. Key measures of the plan include:
- the recruitment of 51 emergency medicine consultants and associated support staff
- an overall recruitment of an additional 608 whole time equivalents of a mix of different professions across the hospital system
- increased community intervention teams, GP supports and out of hours services to reduce the need for attendances at EDs
- increased community services for mental health, disability and palliative care
- increased community and acute diagnostics
- expansion of ambulance services, including the completion of 9 Pathfinder teams to improve ambulance turnaround times
- a fund to support local, site-specific initiatives
The Winter Plan 2022/23 adopts a bottom-up approach with bespoke local plans that seek to address hospital-specific issues in conjunction with Community Healthcare Organisations. Specific initiatives for Our Lady's Children Hospital Crumlin include:
- The development of a CHI Rapid Access Clinic, which will be supported by the recruitment of 1 Grade VII to work across the three CHI group sites.
- The recruitment of 2 Clinical Nurse Manager 2 positions will be recruited as ED Nursing Senior Flow Lead.
- The pilot introduction of 3 Multitask Attendants to release nursing time and improve patient flow in ED.
- The provision of funding to support use of a step-down bed across the CHI group in Laura Lynn this winter.
- The recruitment of 2 Medical Scientists to increase availability of Lab Scientists at weekends.
- The recruitment of 2 Pharmacists to increase the availability of and enhance pharmacy flow at weekends.
- Investment to increase Health and Social Care Professionals across CHI sites to enhance discharge including 1.8 Medical Social Workers, 1 Staff Grade Dietician and 2 Staff Grade Speech & Language Therapists.
- The provision of investment for a Bumbelance Kids ambulance to optimise cross hospital transfers and activity via dedicated transport across the CHI group.
- The recruitment of 1 Clinical Nurse Managed 2 as a Discharge Coordinator for community liaison.
While we are doing a huge amount to increase capacity in our health service by funding and unprecedented increase in staff and beds, I acknowledge that more needs to be done. The HSE is also developing a three-year unscheduled care improvement programme with a key focus on improving ED patient experience time. My Department is working closely with the HSE on developing this plan, which will be published in due course.
