Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

How many people apply for the home care package or are assessed for it? How long is the waiting time?

I ask this question for a specific reason. A member of the public contacted me about the cancellation of their son's operation about three weeks ago. The reason given was that there were no beds. The two beds the hospital had were for absolute emergencies, but his son's operation was a planned surgery. Have things changed in this regard? It is not mentioned in the children's hospital section. Also, what numbers are waiting in the emergency departments of children's hospitals to be admitted, particularly in Crumlin children's hospital in my constituency?

Mr. O'Brien might not be able to answer my next question, but perhaps he would refer back to the committee on it. It has been mentioned by a member of the committee that the CT scanner has not been working in Crumlin hospital on a number of occasions. It is causing great difficulty not only for inpatients but also for outpatients. I have been seeking an answer on that for some time, so perhaps Mr. O'Brien could help in this regard.

I had a fall about two weeks ago and instead of going to the hospital I went to my GP. It was 11 o'clock on a Sunday morning and I was surprised to see there were 22 people ahead of me. The majority of them were very young children with their parents. Has the new GP card helped the accident and emergency departments in children's hospitals? Has it reduced the number arriving in the accident and emergency departments? I was astonished that Sunday. I am lucky that my GP's clinic is open on Sunday mornings. Some people's clinics are not. Regarding the primary care centres, I can only give them the highest compliments. However, perhaps it might be possible to enable them to open at weekends. I had a very bad sprain, which is recovered thankfully, but there was no need for me to sit in a hospital for a number of hours. It was dealt with by my GP and I had an X-ray the following morning. If the primary care health centre had been open in Inchicore, it is the first place I would have gone. If we are to relieve the emergency departments, we must be able to open and staff these wonderful centres at the weekends.