Mr. Damien McCallion:

I might make a couple of broader points about the winter before specifically commenting on Galway. There were elements of bed capacity in the winter plans of the past two years and through the 2022 service plan. The total number of beds funded across that was about 1,150, of which more than 900 have been delivered. A further 154 will happen before the end of the year and the balance in 2023.

Turning to University Hospital Galway, throughout the Saolta University Health Care Group, 83 additional beds are planned, of which 12 are due to open. I do not have the specific figures for Galway hospital but Saolta as a group, as the Senator will be aware, covers the hospitals in Castlebar, Portiuncula, Sligo and Letterkenny. I can revert to him with the exact numbers for Galway hospital.

Alongside acute bed capacity, one of the areas of focus for the winter is the vaccination which, as Mr. Reid said, is crucial. We saw the impact of low vaccination rates in our hospitals with Covid-19 during the pandemic so we are really urging people to get vaccinated. We have a big campaign starting around that. The second area is acute capacity but also the community bed capacity. The third piece then is to leverage some of the existing investments we talked about earlier in terms of the community with the older persons teams, in particular, and our chronic disease teams. Fourth, we are looking to put in additional capacity and resource for simple things that can sometimes clog up the system or packages of care, aids and appliances, which are things we know we need to use more of in the winter. They are also forming part of the final discussions to which the Secretary General referred. Lastly then we have looked at initiatives within each geographical area, which may vary.

My colleague, Ms Crehan-Roche, in Galway may also want to comment on this in terms of the other local resources that would most help make the maximum impact in what we know may be a very severe winter this year. We are trying to plan for the worst-case scenario as best we can but it is more than just acute bed capacity. We are working with Galway regularly. Ms Crehan-Roche might want to comment on one or two of the specific local initiatives in Galway as well.