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

As we sit here, a large number, 300 to 400 people, are in hospital beds when care could be provided for them in a nursing home setting but that is not happening fast enough. Part of the problem is that nursing homes are not able to provide the support they will require because they feel they are not getting sufficient financial support to do so. I am just asking that this be reviewed in order to free up hospital beds to allow us to go ahead with elective surgery and all of the other things we need to do in hospitals. Is it not now time to have a look at that, particularly when we have an underspend in an area where we can save a great deal of money in real terms?