Winter plan and hospital capacity
Deputy Cullinane challenged whether the HSE winter plan would cope with pressure, citing unopened funded beds and staffing shortages. The Taoiseach said winter would be challenging and outlined existing preparations and funding.
Today will see the publication of the HSE's winter plan.
I must put it to the Taoiseach that the time to provide for the winter plan for this year was last year's budget and the time to plan for next winter is this year's budget. It takes time to open beds, which is why 177 beds that are funded are still not open. Seventy two beds announced as part of last year's winter and national service plans are still not open. It takes time to hire staff and increase diagnostic and surgical theatre capacity. Is the Taoiseach confident that the winter plan will be enough for the sheer volume of patients we will see in our emergency departments this year.
Comment on this
It will be a very challenging winter. Experience across the world is showing that with a combination of influenza and Covid-19, or new waves and potential variants of Covid-19, it could be a very difficult winter. Covid numbers are increasing, which places real strains on our hospitals and nursing homes, results in delayed discharges from hospitals increasing, affects flows through hospitals, gives rise to things backing up and places people in emergency departments under real pressure. We started preparing for the winter in 2020 when we put €600 million into the winter initiative. This was to give full-time posts throughout 2021 and 2022. A further €160-odd million is going into this winter initiative to increase beds and get community and primary care services in place.