Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

With respect, NTPF officials should go to hospital management rather than waiting for hospital managers to come to them. I doubt there is a hospital manager in the country who has time to sit down and consider how the hospital is going to extend services and hours beyond what they are doing at present. Surely it is the remit of the fund to acknowledge it has the purse and the ability to pull people together. The fund should be prepared to implement plans in respect of vacant operating theatres, the availability of cleaning staff, whether there are surgical bed days and bed nights and whether it can provide capacity. That is the remit of the NTPF rather than taking the view it is available to engage with the hospital management.