Mr. Liam Woods:

I agree with the Deputy. I will not address the specific instance he mentioned, but it is our intention to maintain and grow capacity. As the Deputy has said, the step down from acute services is the key to enabling us to have effective flow through the service and there are specific proposals on expanding rehabilitation services to allow for a step-down process for Covid-19 patients. Specific work in going on in that regard.

We are also looking at expansion and have invested in expanding the capacity of community sites in the past couple of months. Our winter planning will also include the provision of as much care as possible at home and effective use of community assessment centres.

The Deputy asked a specific question about the funded workforce plan, which I might ask Ms Hoey from human resources to address.