Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates for their opening statements and I apologise for my coming and goings but I had to follow up on a number of matters. During the committee's discussions earlier this morning with the Department of Health and the HSE, I raised the issue of turnover of administration and managerial staff in HSE hospitals. Is this an issue for the IHCA and the IMO and, if so, is it causing inefficiencies in the system?

Are data available on the number of consultants working privately only in private clinics or hospitals compared with the number of consultants working in the HSE? Is there a breakdown regarding the numbers of those who are working in private clinics or private hospitals?

Many people have raised the possibility of part of the National Treatment Purchase Fund going outside the country. Have private hospitals in Ireland the capacity to take on some of that work under the National Treatment Purchase Fund? I accept that the money should be going into the public hospital system, as has been said, in order to try to speed up the delivery of services but in some cases that is not easily done because it involves the provision of extra theatre space and beds, which cannot be done immediately. What are the views of the delegates on the National Treatment Purchase Fund and the capacity of the current private hospital structure to deal with some of these challenges?