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

Let me deal with management. Since December 2014, the HSE’s number of whole-time equivalents has increased from 103,000 to 135,000 or 136,000, which means 150,000 or 160,000 people overall. There has been a huge increase in the number of administrative staff across the board. Does Mr. Kearns feel we will end up with another round of administrative staff increases? How do we deal with that? I accept that there must be administrative staff because the services could not be provided without them. While many are quite negative about our health service, we should remember that there are more than 3.5 million outpatient appointments every year. Someone has to administer these and follow up. A total of 65,000 or 66,000 attend an outpatient clinic per week. This is a huge number. Will there be duplication of the administrative role?

My colleague raised the issue of funding. Approximately 2,500 organisations get funding from the HSE, which adds up to €5.6 billion per annum. How are they all incorporated into six different structures? In Cork, Cope Foundation, which gets funding from the HSE, provides residential care for well over 1,000 people and also provides considerable support.

That necessary service is not necessarily provided in other areas by a voluntary organisation and may be provided by the HSE. How can we ensure the same level of service in each area?