Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the issue of access to theatre. Obviously, in the context of complex operations such as these, it is not just about having the consultant and the back-up support team, it is also about having access to beds once the operation is completed. I refer to efforts to attempting to fast-track dealing with some aspects of waiting lists, as has been done in Cork in respect of day procedures, though I acknowledge it is far easier to do with day procedures. For example, if there were 4,500 people on a gynaecology waiting list in Cork and the consultants could not get access to the theatres in Cork University Maternity Hospital, they rented space in the Mater Private Hospital, Cork, and did all those procedures there. These were all public patients. Is there capacity to get space in the private hospitals such that consultants would have that space and the theatre, beds and back-up support staff to deal with some aspects of the lists?