Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates for coming. I have some general questions and some that are area-specific. I will start with the general questions. In the last session we discussed the income targets in the generation of private income for public hospitals. I ask the delegates to outline the contingency arrangements if they do not hit these targets. If they find themselves short, what services will be cut and how will it be determined?

Earlier I asked whether bed capacity was a physical or a staffing issue. If hospitals had the required staff in the morning, how many beds would there be? From the hospital groups that gave evidence previously, I totted up the numbers. They indicated that they had a total of 29 hospital beds closed, which would probably leave the hospitals represented here with more than 600 beds closed. The figure we received for the number of bed closed was well over 600. I ask the delegates to comment on the number of beds that are closed within the system which could easily be opened.

We are aware that recruitment presents a challenge for every facility. As I said previously, whatever is being done clearly is not working. It would be helpful if the delegates could provide an insight on innovations or different practices in recruitment.

What are the delegates' views on primary care services? We all know that the patient journey from primary care to acute hospital care is not smooth. Where are the blockages? Does the issue relate to staffing in community care settings or do the systems and structures in place prevent patient flow?

I am sure none of these questions comes as a surprise to the delegates. What is the relationship between the CHOs and the hospital groups? Some of them match, while some do not. Where they do match, one person deals with one person, but it could be problematic where they do not match. Deputy Catherine O'Connell asked this question previously. We are aware that legislation is to be introduced to underpin the boards. Could that legislation be tweaked to ensure the CHOs and the hospital groups aligned with each other which would be more efficient? They are the general questions I wanted to ask.

The presentation by the Dublin-midlands hospital group made reference to a plan. Dr. O'Reilly stated: "Our group has developed a draft action plan to consolidate specific complex services." Does she have a copy of that plan?