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

I thank the Minister for his response on this issue. A point that sticks out in his statement is that the hospital was seemingly assessed solely on the basis of its being viewed as a maternity hospital. There seems to be no further expansion of thinking in terms of capacity. We understand that best international practice in terms of maternity services points to tri-located or co-located services, at the very least. However, was there any due diligence procedure or assessment of the broader issue of the elective surgical procedures the hospital was providing? Quite a large number of public patients were contracted to the hospital through the NTPF and the special delivery unit in recent times. From March 2013 until the closure earlier this year, there was almost full occupancy. Therefore, there was quite a large throughput of non-maternity procedures. Nowhere in the Minister's statement did he refer to examining services beyond maternity services. One should bear in mind that only 25 beds in the hospital were being used for maternity purposes. The rest were used for elective surgery cases in respect of specialties and disciplines right across the spectrum. When the high-level examination to assess the feasibility of the HSE purchasing the hospital was carried out, did the high-level group engage in any due diligence exercise on the broader issues? Was the group just sent in to assess the maternity services alone? We will have to have some clarity on that.

I do not expect the Minister to wave magic wands in this particular area. Every Minister is obligated to ensure that taxpayers' money is spent wisely and efficiently. I will receive the usual reminders from the Minister on taxpayers' money being spent wisely, or otherwise, but one should consider this in the context of the fact that the Government is ramping up the purchase of elective surgery from the private providers. In recent days and weeks, we have seen a large increase in the purchase of orthopaedic services. There is certainly an issue of capacity in the public hospital system.

If one carries out any analysis of specialties in all elective areas in the public hospital system, leaving aside the emergency and maternity services, one realises there is a capacity issue. Consequently, we are purchasing from private providers continually. Am I missing something? Day in, day out, we are referring people to private hospitals for orthopaedic and many other services. Why is it the case if there is not a capacity issue in the public hospital system? One must bear in mind that commitments were made about new hospitals in the north east and all that flows from that.