Urgent care centres and drunk tanks at centre of A&E crisis plan

FINE GAEL’s health reform policies will focus on urgent care centres throughout the country and ‘drunk tanks’ to be placed in A&Es.

In his keynote speech at the Árd Fheis, party health spokesman Liam Twomey said the new care centres would fill the gap for places with no A&E facilities.

Three of the centres would be in Dublin with the other 12 in large towns which don’t have hospitals offering emergency facilities. They would operate on a 24-hour basis, be staffed by GPs and nurses and have diagnostic capabilities such as blood tests, x-rays and some observation beds.

“The 24-hour urgent care centres (UCC) are not designed to replace existing A&Es, but to complement and relieve the pressure on them. In fact, the UCCs will have IT and referral links with the nearest hospital. Rapid transport services to the hospital will also be provided should the need for more specialist care arise,” said Mr Twomey.

According to Fine Gael’s plan, the new centres would be fast-tracked through new critical infrastructure procedures and be targeted first at areas where the A&E crisis is at its worst.

Another measure to ease pressure would be drunk tanks, which would clamp down on drunks by introducing isolated wet rooms with security and medical supervision. There would be routine fines for those attending A&E while drunk.

“We want to have increased security at weekends for A&E staff and fine people who are just disorderly and drunk,” Mr Twomey said.

The party is also proposing to create four 150-bed step-down and rehabilitation community care facilities in the Greater Dublin Area to relieve the A&E crisis.

“There are approximately 400 elderly patients in Dublin hospitals that have finished their medical treatment and cannot go home,” said Mr Twomey.

“People should no longer be denied access to a service which will help them live more independently at home and out of the hospital system.”

Other Fine Gael proposals include a new patient safety authority, free GP care to children under five and health screening for adults.

There was a warning too for staff in the health sector.

“Professional health sector staff must also play their part. There is a need to change some work practices in our hospitals and these must be linked to future Benchmarking awards,” said Mr Twomey.