No extra beds and no extra staff being appointed as part of HSE Winter Plan
No extra acute hospital beds are being opened as part of the HSE's €26m winter plan to deal with hospital overcrowding.
HSE national director of acute operations, Liam Woods, confirmed that no extra acute beds were being opened and no extra staff were being appointed as part of the plan.
Last year the provision of 75 extra acute beds were part of the winter package but the HSE is now focusing on moving people from acute hospitals to more appropriate care to free up beds.
The health authority's chief operations officer, Anne O'Connor, said last year the focus was on nine key hospital sites but this year each of the nine community health organisation had a winter action team.
“So we are coming at this from a primary care and community perspective,” she said.
Ms O'Connor said ED attendances were up by just under 3% but that only translated into 1% of admissions.
They already had €5m of the €26m approved at the end of September and had started working on that.
We have approved 1,284 transitional care transfers and that has had a very significant impact on the system.
Almost 700 patients are waiting in acute hospitals every week to be moved to transitional care beds, a 20% increase compared to last year.
Of the funding being provided, €13m is being allocated to the nursing home support scheme known as Fair Deal to bring back the waiting time to four weeks.
Also, €4.2m will be spent on transitional care and €2m on home support packages.
There is also €6.8m for other initiatives that include funding additional senior decision-makers, rapid flu testing and aids and appliances.
Ms O'Connor said there were 637 more nurses in the system since September last year. She insisted there was no recruitment “moratorium” but did admit that recruitment was limited by available funding.
The president of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine, Dr Emily O'Connor said the HSE's Winter Plan would not work without extra staff.
Dr O'Connor, who was speaking on RTÉ radio also warned that it could be a “very bad winter” and that the number of patients on trolleys could reach 800.
General secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, said it would be impossible to expand services because of the ongoing recruitment pause.
Meanwhile, opposition TDs have called for more resources to alleviate hospital overcrowding and prevent deaths on trolleys in addition to the HSE's €26m Winter Plan.
The assault of an elderly woman in a hospital in Cork, increased numbers of sepsis cases and newborn babies waiting hours for emergency care all occurred recently in hospitals, the Dáil heard.
Fianna Fáil's Dara Calleary said Tanaiste Simon Coveney's defence of the health system was akin to “the conductor of the Titanic” continuing to play as the ship went under.
Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty said the recruitment freeze was crippling EDs and patients were suffering as a result.
Responding, Mr Coveney said members of the House were calling for more money that has not been budgeted for and at the same time criticising the Government for potentially overspending.
He pointed out that more money than ever - €17.1bn was going into health next year.
