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

On the issue of moving care out of the hospital system. Several GPs have told me that there is a problem in hospitals in that there is a huge shortage of physiotherapists because they have left to provide community care. Yet, in the context of providing community care, I spoke to a GP who was trying to arrange a physiotherapist. He rang the HSE service and found out that the earliest he can get an appointment is in six weeks' time. However, he can get in touch with someone in the private sector who can provide a physiotherapist within 24 hours. A problem with community care is that hospital care is provided seven days a week. In other words, a hospital is functioning for seven days a week whereas community care is provided five days a week. Is that correct?