Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The smaller hospitals framework document will be published at some stage this year. The hospital groupings will be published as well. We have been told previously by the HSE and the Minister for Health that they are linked and they will form a central policy. Having read Mr. O'Brien's speech and looked at the estimates for the budgets, are some of the savings identified in this national service plan ones that the witnesses see already? They know more about the hospital framework than I do.

That is something I would have difficulty in accepting. For example, in Cork, the accident and emergency department has been closed in Mallow and the one in Bantry has been downgraded, while urgent care centres are being established. Are these savings that are already identified and are they included in this national service plan? We have had no discussion about this and do not know what is in it. We will find it hard to accept the veracity of this document until such time as we see the small hospitals framework and the hospital groupings coming together in an integrated way. Only then will we be able to analyse the impact that will have on both services and on the budget itself.