Department asks hospitals to improve management of A&E units

The Department of Health is to press hospitals around the State to improve the management of A&E units to make them work more efficiently.

Among the plans being looked at by the department is the provision of separate diagnostic facilities so that patients requiring X-rays do not have to queue for hours as is common at present.

The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, is understood to have briefed the Cabinet sub-committee on health on Wednesday, that improved management of services and the provision of additional resources were necessary to tackle problems in A&E units.

Highly-placed sources said there was a strong view among members on the committee, which includes the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance, that A&E services should be improved before the next general election.

Since the local and European election losses, some Ministers and Government backbenchers have pointed to the ongoing crises in A&E units with widespread overcrowding and long waiting times as a symbol of the problems affecting the health services.

It is understood that the Government's three-pronged strategy to tackle pressures in A&E services involves the provision of additional hospital beds, investment in step- down facilities for people who no longer need acute care and improved management of services.

Around 200 additional acute hospital beds are to be provided as part of an €85 million package to open idle healthcare facilities announced by the Minister in recent days.

The Department of Health has also announced the funding for over 300 additional step-down beds since July.

Sanction has also been given by the department for the appointment of additional consultants in A&E medicine in some hospitals.

Sources close to the Department of Health told The Irish Times last night that it had written to hospitals around the country in recent weeks asking them to look at the management of their A&E services.

Informed sources said that the Department of Health believed that improved management systems, to make units operate in a more efficient manner, were an important part of dealing with the overall problems.

Department of Health sources said it had "embryonic plans" for diagnostic services in A&E units which could see services such as X-rays provided in a manner that would not involve patients having to face lengthy queues.

It is understood that in recent weeks a number of Dublin hospitals have also had preliminary discussions with senior health-service management on issues such as consultants retaining patients in acute beds for tests that could be carried out as out-patients, and on returning patients referred to the capital back to health boards around the country.