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

I just wanted to raise with the Minister the concern I have on the people in the HSE, in particular the consultants who are due to retire. There does not seem to be a mechanism in place, because the complaints I am getting back from hospitals around the country are that nothing is done about recruitment of the replacement until the person has actually physically retired. That will be a huge problem over the next two to three years because there are quite a number of people due to retire.

A second issue that I know the Minister cannot come back to me today on is the step-down facilities from hospitals and a faster turnover of patients out of hospitals. The biggest problem that hospitals have and, in fairness, they work extremely hard trying to co-ordinate getting patients out who the hospital has done all that it can for, is access to step-down facilities. It is still a major issue across the country. Can we prioritise the issue of getting suitable facilities available so that staff can get people out of hospital in a timely manner and, at the same time, make space available for the people who need to be admitted?