Action needed to prevent breach of A&E pledge - Varadkar

The Government’s commitment of never again having up to 570 patients on trolleys in hospital emergency departments could be breached if action is not taken, the Minister for Health has said.

Leo Varadkar said while the numbers on trolleys were currently not close to this threshold, if additional community beds, extra nursing home places and some cancellation of planned surgery was not put in place "we could be heading towards those numbers in January or February.

Mr Varadkar said there had been a significant increase in emergency department over crowding since the summer.

He said a lot of the progress made in this area since the Government took office in 2011 had been reversed.

The Minister convened an emergency department task force aimed at finding long- term solutions to overcrowding.

He said “short term solutions only work in the short term”.

Mr Varadkar said the Government had invested €25 million in additional nursing home places, community beds and more home care packages.

“I will provide any political leadership I can, but I am going to need full engagement from management and the front line to get things done. “