Mr. Paul Bolger:

Yes. The capacity report attempted to capture that requirement. The report makes clear that 2,600 beds will be required following an extensive programme of reform. If there is no reform and we stand still, the plan indicates that more than 7,000 beds will be needed.

On specific reforms, Ms Scally will deal with areas under consideration in terms of increasing capacity. We have also outlined several important administrative reforms that are being introduced to improve system efficiency, such as the validation office and the badly-needed integrated waiting list. A delayed discharge review is now under way to understand the factors of relevance in that regard, such as whether it is a capacity issue or relates to the ability of the acute and community systems to communicate or a combination of both.

Ms Scally will provide details on modular units, which form an important part of the capacity plan.

They can be delivered much more quickly and, based on the experience of the UL group, the quality of accommodation that can be offered is different from what I imagined a modular build would have when we started on this project. It will play a significant part in the system going forward. We have identified a number of sites where modular builds could be used to increase capacity.