‘Very concerning for patients in North Tipperary’

Reports into emergency department dysfunction show need for investment and reform – Browne and O’Donoghue

Sinn Féin TD for Tipperary Martin Browne and Nenagh Sinn Féin representative Damian O Donoghue have said that the latest HIQA reports into emergency department dysfunction across the State show that widespread investment in capacity as well as reform of patient care is urgently needed for patients in Tipperary.

Teachta Browne said: “Emergency department waits have continued in the wrong direction in the last year, and now stand at 13.9 hours in University Hospital Limerick. This figure includes an average wait time of 17.3 hours for patients of 75 years and over, and an average wait time of 12.6 hours for those under the age of 75 years.

“This is very concerning for patients in North Tipperary who need urgent access to care. We need significant investment in primary and community care, especially in training more general practice doctors and primary care nurses and allied health and social care professionals to move more care out of hospitals.

“Too many patients are being treated in the wrong place, at the wrong time, leading to costly delays in their care.”

Mr O Donoghue said: “Alternative care pathways and locations as well as additional step-down capacity plans based on the health needs of communities must be advanced, on a local and regional basis.

“We also need to see much greater investment in public diagnostic capacity, with direct access for GPs as well as a modernisation of acute hospital diagnostic capacity to increase efficiency. We know that many ED delays are due to waits for scans.

“The Minister for Health is reacting to crisis after crisis with short-term measures, but we need a serious, multi-annual plan which addresses long emergency department waits through a reorientation of care, investment in capacity, and investment in workforce planning. Regionalisation, integration of care, and investment in the National Ambulance Service to provide better services as well as community-based services are all necessary components of such a plan.

“We will never reduce health waiting lists if we cannot get on top of the crisis in emergency departments, but this requires strategic multi-annual planning, which has not been forthcoming from the Minister for Health''

Teachta Browne concluded: “Staff at University Hospital Limerick are working extremely hard to do their best to give patients the high-quality care that they deserve, but the Government’s failure to invest and plan is making their work harder. Patients in Tipperary deserve high quality care without unnecessary delays.

“Sinn Féin has the ambition and the detailed plan to invest in our health service and deliver the change that is so desperately needed.”