Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We have a 60-bed modular unit but it will not be delivered in the timeline originally put forward.

We need to be honest about that. I do not wish to make a political point of it but it will not be delivered until the following year. Let us call a spade a spade. The 90 bed unit will not be provided for in the three-year capital plan. The issue is the estimated €40 million differential in terms of what is needed to bring the mid-west group of hospitals to a particular level versus current funding. Approximately 130 doctors, 200 health and social care professionals, 150 nurses, 160 additional beds and 50 to 60 transitional care beds are needed. The existing MRI scanner, donated by a philanthropist, is 14 years old and is continually breaking down. In regard to 82 people currently on trolleys, 30 of them could be facilitated if the hospital had a new scanner. The hospital does not have the €6.5 million required to buy a new scanner or the €1.2 million to rent one. For God's sake, will the HSE please put together a package in the interim for this area? People are suffering at a level I have never before seen in my political career. My colleagues across politics are saying the same.