Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Earlier the Minister made the point, in his response, that the stroke programme saves a life a day. That is a great success story for the health service. The programme has also taken about 160 people out of the nursing home system per annum, which has saved, to date, about €25.75 million. Savings have been made in the nursing home budget but the actions are taken in the acute hospital budget. I believe these should be linked. At least some of the savings made in the nursing home budget should be moved back into the acute hospital budget because a roadblock is preventing the roll-out of the stroke programme across the country. Funding is part of that issue. If some of the savings could be released specifically to the stroke programme, it would save the long-term residential care budget a significant amount of money.