Dr. Susan O'Reilly:

We have beds we can open and we have money allocated for a winter surge. We have applications in for next year for additional funding. We are aggressively targeting being able to open more beds. Tullamore hospital has money for a winter surge and they are now actively recruiting nurses and we need staff in. Naas General Hospital had money for a winter surge last year but we could not spend it because we could not recruit the nurses. One of the benefits to the group, and which I very much appreciate,- is that Tallaght hospital has an international recruitment machine running and has assisted us in recruiting nurses for Naas General. Nurses are now beginning to roll in to the Naas hospital and we hope that money will be spent. The issue has been less around the resources and more about finding the staff that have the expertise in theatre, accident and emergency, intensive care unit beds.