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

I bid the Minister of State and his officials a good morning. When members ask these questions, we tend to throw about 57,000 issues at the Minister, which means we tend to get very vague answers. It is hard not to take such an approach because there are deficiencies in so many areas but if I can I will try to focus on a number of areas. One is scoliosis. That is something we have raised time and again. We are not alone in that, as other Deputies, including Deputies in the Minister of State's own party have raised it. The waiting lists are still unacceptable. I do not think anyone would defend them. It is not that long since the Minister was on television apologising in what I am sure was a very sincere way about it, but the waiting lists are unacceptable, in particular for those who have complex medical conditions. The Minister had promised a detailed action plan for parents, which I suppose is just like a normal action plan but is perhaps a bit longer. Parents have still not seen the action plan. They are contacting me and I am sure they are contacting Deputy Kelleher and others as well to ask if we can ascertain when the detailed action plan will be ready. When the plan is ready it could just be put with all the other detailed action plans. What people really want to know is when the children will be treated and whether there is a plan to increase the operation of the theatre in Crumlin from three days to five. If there is, could the Minister of State advise how many staff have been recruited to deal with that? Given the length of the waiting lists, there is a case to be made for increasing the theatre openings to seven days a week until the crisis is over. Could the Minister of State outline the position in terms of the recruitment of doctors, nurses and everybody else who will be needed to open the theatre for extra days?

That brings me to my next point. Deputy Kelleher raised a similar point. We all know that if additional beds are to be opened additional staff will be needed. Could the Minister of State give an indication of the age profile of staff? Doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, porters, theatre assistants and everybody else are coming into the system - I do not believe we are getting anywhere near the numbers needed - but at the other end people are leaving because in some instances the workplace is intolerable but there are also people whom we know will leave due to retirement, for example. It is my understanding that there is not a plan in place to deal with the retirements. Perhaps the Minister of State could point us to the section in the Estimates concerning recruitment and where the additional moneys for the additional capacity have been put aside. The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, has said it himself and the Minister, Deputy Harris, has definitely said that one could open a bed in the morning but it is just sitting there if one does not have the staff to care for the patient in it. How much of the additional €530 million is allocated for additional staff and potential pay increases and how much is just for standing still and maintaining the current level of services?

During Storm Emma the Minister for Health announced that €5 million would be provided for additional capacity. Could the Minister of State give us a breakdown of where the money was spent and whether money was taken from the budget for other areas and ring-fenced for that purpose?

It is hard to believe that there are negotiations, much less intense negotiations of any sort going on with general practitioners, GPs. Can the Minister of State provide us with information on whether any discussion has taken place with regard to salaried GPs? All of the reports in the media and from the representative organisations suggest there is a crisis in capacity in terms of GPs at the moment. One issue identified in Sláintecare is that we might look at salaried GPs to alleviate the crisis. I understand that it would not be a panacea. Could the Minister of State advise us if that has formed part of the discussions and perhaps give us an update?

The Minister of State referred to 179 beds that had been opened and that a detailed plan would be provided, perhaps on 1 November, for the opening of additional beds. Could he give a breakdown of the staffing for those beds? Is there recruitment in the pipeline? One cannot just fill out a form. It is a long process to recruit a staff member at any grade into the health service, except as it turns out, administrative staff because we saw over the weekend that they are being recruited at a rate of knots, unlike health professionals. That is not to say administrative staff are not needed because of course they are but it strikes me as a bit odd that the recruitment of administrative staff is outstripping the recruitment of front-line health care professionals.