Mr. Liam Woods:

If I do not respond to all of them, Deputy Louise O'Reilly can let me know. One of them was whether the acute hospital sector would surrender budgets. I am the director of acute hospital services in the HSE and from my perspective, as part of the answer to the question, we will face a challenge in needing a resource to transition to a primary care-driven service. The notion of a safe transition from one model to another and resourcing it arises and I am sure it will be flagged by the Oireachtas through the work of the committee. Having said that, where work is being transferred and staff are moving too, of course, it is possible. However, I would be very alert to the pressures on the acute system to do work that truly needs to be done in the acute environment. There is upward pressure in high intensity areas of service for that resource. The answer is a little mixed. It is hard for me as director of acute hospital services to consider that, of course, but if it is working as part of an overall plan for transition funding, it will be part of our journey but only part of it.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked whether we agreed with the one in eight figure for the nurse-to-patient ratio. The study conducted by the Department of nurse numbers nationally used generically a ration of one in eight and we would not argue with it. There are areas of care where the ratio may be more intensive, but, broadly, we would not argue with that figure.