John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Because of the turmoil this week, I only got to see the report yesterday. I do not know when it arrived, but it contains a lot of interesting and good information and I would like a little more time to digest it. Perhaps we might return as a committee to a few of the issues raised. There is a lot of information included in the appendices which needs to be scrutinised a little better. On page 43 is shown the posts needed to meet the recommendations made in A Vision for Change: 477 in general adult services; 460 in CAMHS; and 200 in the psychiatry of old age service, giving a total of 1,137. How many of these posts have been funded? Does the HSE have the money to fund them? How many could it fill right now and how many would be left to be filled for which funding would be needed? Deputy Anne Rabbitte made the good point that a team of seven was small and that if one was missing, it greatly inhibited the team's ability to deliver. It is very difficult to deliver an effective service in such circumstances.

The HSE probably has a number of teams which have been fully filled. What is their output? If the HSE could determine the outputs, it could work out what the increase would be in creating new teams. If it focused on specific areas, it could increase output in this way and achieve the targets set. If it did not achieve its targets, it would have to ask why. The committee is also trying to achieve this.