Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank each of the speakers for their presentations. I also thank them for the work they and their organisations are doing. Deputy Kelleher spoke about nurses prescribing. Nursing qualification has moved on and the vast majority of nurses now have an academic qualification. We have made some changes by giving them extra duties. What do we need to change to allow them to get into the area of prescribing? Do we need to change legislation or is it just regulation?

I presume individual nursing homes have their own arrangements with GPs. Is it true that the level of care nursing homes require is not always being provided by the general practitioners in the immediate area?

The organisation of step-down facilities is inadequate. How can that be improved?

The Nursing Homes Ireland report referred to the need for a 59% increase in the number of residential care facilities, which would equate to an additional 13,000 or 14,000 beds in coming years. How can we deal with that? Do we need to change focus by putting far more into home care packages, rather than trying to achieve a huge 59% increase in a very short period of time?