Mr. Tony O'Brien:

The SDU still exists. Its personnel are still in place and they work as part of the acute hospitals division. There have been one or two personnel changes over the years, including me. A previous member of the SDU, Mr. Jim O’Sullivan, is a member of the emergency department task force. Many of the measures the SDU developed from mid-2011 are still in place. The critical difference is that they have been slightly overwhelmed, broadly speaking but not exclusively, by demographic impact. This morning I was in an emergency department where the consultants on call told me something very interesting. Having worked in the hospital at different times over 20 years they have found that the average age of a patient has increased by one year per year. The demographic effect is real. Hopefully, we will all age and be reasonably well as we do so. As we do, our demands for health care will grow, whether for acute care or home care supports. The economic recession has had an impact on the capacity of successive Governments to keep pace with demographic change in the country and there is no denying it. This is the first budget in many years to seek to address it. At the launch of the service plan, the Minister and I were both very clear that it is a start rather than the solution we need to get to for successive years.