An additional €5m allocated by Minister Simon Harris will help the overcrowding crisis in hospitals in Galway and across the country, according to Minister Ciaran Cannon.
Minister Cannon said the Minister for Health and the HSE made it very clear a week ago that Storm Emma would lead to a significant backlog for the health services and some very challenging and difficult days.
“That is what we’re now witnessing in our hospitals. For a number of days it was not possible to safely discharge patients during the severe weather – this lead to huge pressure on the system. I wish to acknowledge all the staff working in our hospitals in Galway who are dealing with the current surge and assure the public that everything possible is being done to tackle this problem,” he said, adding that to tackle the difficulty discharging patients the Minister for Health has approved €5 million in funding.
“This will mean an additional 324 home support packages and up to 300 transitional care beds over the next four to six weeks. These additional supports have been targeted at the hospitals with the greatest number of patients awaiting discharge home and will help improve patient flow in those hospitals, which will in turn help to relieve congestion in their EDs,” he said.
“This exceptional intervention, combined with the steps the HSE are taking to support hospitals, is expected to begin to have an impact in the coming days. yesterday afternoon,” he concluded
