Keith Swanick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With a small amount of funding, much progress could be made on a day-to-day basis providing higher quality of care to patients. That is basically what it is all about. As we know, general practitioners on a daily basis often carry out nursing duties. Many of my GP colleagues around the country would agree with me in saying that even a small 10% refund of the FEMPI cuts could facilitate the sending of staff on training for nurse prescribing, for example. Too much emphasis has been placed on the provision of primary care centres around the country when it is the provision of care that is important. Does the Minister agree that any possible unwinding of the FEMPI cuts in the general practice sector should be kept separate from contract negotiations? Will that process occur in an aligned fashion?

We speak of marrying primary and community care, as well as providing more new beds in the hospital sector, which I agree with. The Minister mentioned the HSE's indication that there is capacity to provide 600 new beds between modular units and reconfiguration of existing wards, etc. There is a major under-utilised resource, which I have spoken about on numerous occasions, which is the community hospital sector across the country. Is there a specific fund within the implementation strategy for the community hospital sector, in particular? The Minister mentioned the X-ray department installed in the new primary care centre in Castlebar but there are four district and community hospitals in the Mayo region. There is an X-ray department in Belmullet hospital used once or twice per week, and there is an X-ray department in Ballina hospital. Community hospitals should not be seen as a relic of a bygone era. There is a major resource of beds not being used and they should not be seen as glorified nursing homes. They help facilitate discharges from hospital and they prevent admissions to acute hospitals. There is no reason somebody who has a hip replacement done at Mayo general hospital could not be rehabilitated in Belmullet, Castlebar or Swinford a couple of days later, for example.

We need to specifically consider the redevelopment of our community hospital sector as a way of taking pressure off the acute sector and opening access to GPs to admit to the community hospital sectors directly. For example, people could be admitted and have a medication review, a chest X-ray or some blood work done. An elderly person might have a brief admission for one week, and that would prevent an admission to the acute hospital sector. It would save much money. It is something that should be examined as it may have been overlooked in the Sláintecare report. What are the Minister's thoughts on that?