Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. To pick up on the issue of the Sláintecare recommendation on three elective hospitals, it is disappointing to hear there seems to be a watering down of that. This was a key recommendation following on from the experience in Scotland and how it dealt with pressures on its acute hospital sector. There is a very strong case for having elective hospitals but they have to go beyond day case, or while they could obviously do day cases, there is a need for inpatient cases as well. For example, one of the key pressure areas is orthopaedics. That is something that should be done as a matter of course, with people in and out in a matter of days, as some of the private clinics are doing very successfully. What was done in Scotland was that a private hospital was bought to kick-start that whole new approach. Has consideration been given to that? I urge the Minister to ensure we are not just talking about day hospitals and that it is full inpatient hospitals.