Gabrielle McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not questioning any of the companies, which are all good and viable. I was just curious about how cost-effective it was. I refer to the community supports Mr. Healy mentioned when we talked about the fair deal. At Christmas, a huge number of people were on trolleys in emergency departments. When I went to visit one of them between Christmas and the new year, a huge percentage of the people on trolleys were very elderly people coming from nursing homes. I was told the reason many of them were there was that they were dehydrated and needed a drip or had chest infections and needed intravenous antibiotics, which could not be done in a nursing home due to governance issues. There was a question about employing community-based geriatricians. Now that there is no moratorium and no reason we cannot employ medical staff, will it happen? It could help alleviate the pressure on beds in emergency departments. Elderly people in their 80s and 90s should not be taken out of their beds in nursing homes to go to an emergency department just to get a drip. It should be done in a nursing home. It might help alleviate the problems and it might not cost as much money.