POCC brought ‘significant improvement’ to weekend discharge

There was a “significant improvement” in weekend discharges from HSE acute hospital beds last year, heard the Sláintecare programme board.

In November, board members were informed of “increased availability” of senior decision-makers since the introduction of the public-only consultant contract (POCC). According to meeting minutes, this had led to an 18 per cent increase in weekend discharge (Friday-Sunday) from acute hospital beds for the first 39 weeks of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. These figures did not include St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, and Wexford General Hospital.

Board members noted that the figures demonstrated “the positive impact” of the POCC. As of late 2024, over 60 per cent of consultants in the public health service had signed the new contract.

In February, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill raised concerns over emergency department (ED) overcrowding on the St Brigid’s bank holiday weekend. She partly attributed the situation to low weekend discharge rates.

The Minister said hospital data showed there were “not enough” consultants rostered over the bank holiday weekend – either on-call or on-site. She said the POCC needed to be used to increase the provision of evening, extended out-of-hours, and Saturday rostering of consultants.

Last month, the Minister thanked staff for their work in reducing ED crowding over the St Patrick’s bank holiday weekend.

The number of patients waiting on ED trolleys at 8am over that weekend (Saturday-Monday) was reduced by 70 per cent when compared to the St Brigid’s weekend, according to the Minister.

“We have seen a more stabilised position over this bank holiday weekend and this level of performance needs to be achieved every weekend to benefit our patients and our healthcare staff.”