Mr. Liam Woods:

A couple of other questions were raised by the Senator. We are creating clinical linkage between the spinal unit in Galway and the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, recognising the point that was raised by him. He asked if there are options internationally. The cross-border directive scheme is there, but for complex spinal surgery that would be quite difficult to operate. A connection with the Mater is being created however. I will provide the Senator with a report of that before the end of the week on that and send copies to the committee.

We have spoken about nurses and transport. There was a reference to long-term workforce planning with regard to doctors and nurses. Work has been done with the education system to address the need for doctors, and as the committee will be aware, there has been some uplift there in previous years. We have recently appointed a head of workforce planning within the HSE. As Mr. Bolger said earlier, the requirement to engage in workforce planning now on the basis that additional capacity is coming into the system is clearly strongly indicated. This will be a key focus for us in the coming period.

There was a question about when there will be a proposal for Merlin Park University Hospital. The Saolta University Health Care Group putting proposals relating to Merlin Park to the HSE. That is one of the dialogues that is taking place on capacity. There are some proposals with us in that regard. The group is also looking at the full Merlin Park site and what the future of the two locations is. There are currently proposals to put a facility in Merlin Park.