Pa Daly
Question:1106. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Health her plans to reduce waiting times at the emergency department at University Hospital Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [72364/25]
View answerTuesday, 16 December 2025
Questions (1106)
Written answers
I would like to assure the deputy that every measure is being taken reduce the waiting times in our Emergency Departments including University Hospital Kerry. We are making progress in reducing the number of patients on trolleys nationwide and intensive work is ongoing with the HSE in this regard. This reduction has been achieved despite a significant increase in the number of patients presenting to Emergency Departments, particularly in cohort of patients aged 75 years and older. There has been an improved performance with every iteration of the UEC Plan. The successes of 2025 was built on the UEC 2024-25 Plan. That plan has now been superseded by the UEC 2025-26 Plan, which will run until Q2 of 2026. Priority actions are set out under four operational pillars: Hospital avoidance, Emergency Department operations, In-hospital care delivery and Discharge management. The actions are focused on balancing system capacity and demand while optimising patient flow.
Amongst the initiatives involved in the plan are:
• Vaccine Preventable Illness: The HSE is promoting the uptake of Influenza, Measles and COVID-19 vaccinations to improve compliance for all target groups including Healthcare Workers Specialist Care in the Community.
• Community Specialist Teams (CSTs) for Chronic Disease Management to deliver 19,000 patient contacts each month. CSTs for Older Persons will deliver 11,750 patient contacts each month.
• NAS Care Pathways Maximize usage of existing NAS alternative care pathways.
• Injury Units to provide a 7-day service, 8am to 8pm including Bank Holidays.
• The operation of 10-bedded Virtual Wards in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) and in St Vincent's University Hospital (SVUH), scaling to 25 virtual beds for each site by year end to deliver 50 virtual beds in total.
• Providing additional and extended hours for senior decision makers and staff integration. In addition to this the HSE has made available a provision of an additional 40,000 hours for GP Enhanced Surgery Care and Out of Hour GP Care to alleviate the pressures on EDs during the busy winter period.