HSE launches winter plan to reduce overcrowding

The Health Service Executive (HSE) is to launch a series of public information campaigns to increase the immunisation uptake for people at risk of influenza as part of its winter plan to deal with overcrowding in hospital Accident and Emergency wards.

The campaigns will accompany the HSE's vaccination programme - due to begin in October - and will also focus on "ill-health prevention and self-care".

The HSE's plan is aimed at reducing hospital admissions for chronic illnesses by providing more primary care services such as community intervention teams and the expansion of GP out of hours services.

It contains several measures to manage the flow of patients through the hospital system and placements in the community.

The plan will also seek to create single points of access to the hospital system and deal with the spike in admissions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

At the launch of today's plan, the HSE claimed to have reduced the number of people waiting in A&E more than 24 hours for admission from 5 per cent to 4 per cent since May.

But the Irish Nurses Organisation said according to their figures A&E overcrowding was as bad as ever.

It said 256 patients on trolleys in A&E departments across the State today, compared with 202 on this day last year.

The HSE has established a team of experts - headed by Network Manager for the Mid Western Hospitals Group John O'Brien - to oversee the plan's implementation.

Mr O'Brien: "The Winter Plan will build on work already underway in several different areas of the health care system."

"The primary aim is to get the new organisation working together in a focused way to address the system wide problems which manifest in patients waiting in Emergency Departments for admission to hospital."

"Those Teams report to me on a weekly basis so there is very direct communication between corporate level in the organisation and those entrusted with managing the delivery of care," he said.