Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues in thanking the HSE staff, including the back-room staff, for all the work they have done over the last number of years and hopefully throughout 2014, and their dedication and commitment. I am concerned about the fair deal issue and step-down facilities from the point of view that the number of people over 65 is increasing all the time. We are talking about providing back-up support for an additional 1,000 people at home. However, there is a problem with the number of people, particularly elderly people, being discharged from hospital and readmitted within a six-week time period. There is no engagement between the nursing homes about providing step-down facilities. Will that be considered during 2014? There is a big difference between having someone in hospital and back in his or her own home. A step-down facility is an intermediate place where they can get the level of support they need while allowing time for the proper management structure to be put in place for them at home. Could that be clarified?

This morning I read a letter in a newspaper that indicated that the entire health service had closed down over the last 12 months. The performance indicators record 2.57 million attendances in outpatient departments in 2014.

Outpatient attendance numbers for previous years are not in the report. I know they cannot be provided today but it would be helpful if the committee had these figures to see the changes.

I notice the figure for medical cards for 2014 is 1.875 million. I would like the figures for previous years because this seems to be stable, as no reduction is proposed for 2014, whereas the public perception is a little different. It is important that we get this information, which is not contained in the analysis, out there. It would be helpful if it was there.