The HSE will put in place 279 additional hospital beds this year and move to operating health services over a seven-day rather than a Monday-Friday basis, its chief executive Bernard Gloster has said.
The new HSE national service plan for 2025 also says expansion of termination services and implementation of the recommendations of the independent review of this area will be among the areas on which it will focus this year.
The HSE plan also says the organisation will prepare for the opening of the new national children’s hospital and advance the planned new national maternity hospital.
It says the HSE will deliver an additional 279 acute hospital beds and expand services in both hospitals and in the community to run on a seven-day basis.
Mr Gloster said the priority in 2025 “must be a relentless focus on productivity” and changed ways of working.
“Expanding our workforce, improving our buildings, adding new capacity and seeing more people than ever must all be pursued at the same time,” he said. “I am particularly committed this year to finalising plans and discussions with staff partners to move the organisation from where it is on a 5/5 day basis to 5/7 and adding to on-call services by having rostered services over the entire week.”
HSE chairman Ciarán Devane said while there had been significant progress over the last three years a priority for the HSE this year would be to further reduce waiting times. In boosting services in hospital emergency departments, the HSE plan says it will seek to prioritise access to diagnostics to support early clinical decision-making. The plan envisages screening for patients aged over 75 for delirium and frailty at the point of triage in the emergency department, and the provision of early access to emergency and specialist gerontology services.
The plan to boost emergency department services was released on the day that the health and safety watchdog Hiqa found that overcrowding in the emergency department at Beaumont Hospital created a “challenging environment” that did not respect the dignity and privacy of patients.
The Irish Times reported last week that Beaumont was among one of three Dublin hospitals which is facing a ban put in place by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly on new development funding until they showed they had implemented a new management system to monitor productivity and performance.
The HSE plan says a significant priority this year will be to improve disability services, particularly in relation to the provision of access for children and families. However, the plan also warns of potential financial challenges.
It says that over the coming year the cost of running existing services at current levels “will be a significant challenge” in the context of the total funding available to specialist disability services in 2025. The plan says it is not intended to cut services but rather to minimise the level of financial deficit by improving financial controls around staffing levels, including on agency personnel and overtime.
Mr Gloster also said proposals for the introduction of a national electronic health record was progressing, and he hoped it will conclude to next stage approval by the incoming government. “However, in the meantime there are critical steps along the way to this end, such as achieving a summary care record, HSE patient app and use of technology to develop virtual care.” The Irish Times