Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. On the first issue, I wholeheartedly agree. Many of the HSE staff are exhausted. Before Covid arrived, they were run off their feet and over the past year they have been asked to step up again and again. They deserve huge credit for what they have done but we all agree simply thanking people for their work is not enough. We have to look very seriously at how fatigued people are and whether they are close to burn out. If what the Deputy is saying is true, and people have had such an experience at least in some parts of the system that they are thinking about retiring, changing career or moving to a health service in a different country, it is something we need to look at very seriously.

The good news is the pressure has eased. Today the number of Covid cases in hospitals has reduced below 500, which is very welcome. The figures the chief clinical officer has given are very encouraging with regard to the impact the vaccine is having. It is not just the vaccine, as it reflects lower community transmission also, but, from memory, the chief clinical officer was citing figures that suggested an approximate 95% reduction in Covid infection rates for hospital staff, which is very encouraging.

There is no question but that we need to work closely with the HSE, management, the representative bodies and, most importantly, the staff themselves to make sure they have the supports in place that they need. My view is we need to do something for them and I believe that in the fullness of time we will. We need a Government decision on this and Government agreement on what it is. Certainly the HSE, the Department and the Government are taking very seriously the issue the Deputy has raised, which is that staff are exhausted.

To go back to the topic we are discussing today, when we successfully manage the resumption of services we will look at ever greater waiting lists and greater pressure. With respect to planning for retirement, I might ask for a note to be provided to the Deputy on this.

With regard to the access to care fund, the plan is absolutely as he proposed. It is for referral and treatment. The plan is not that people get a referral and are then designated for treatment but the supports stop there; the plan is that people will see the clinician or clinicians they need to see and are treated.