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

I will move to issues around how we operate the service. There has been talk about the fact that nurses are highly qualified. In fact, many nurses are better qualified than many junior doctors. That does not take from junior doctors who are training. We have not expanded the roles of the nursing staff. On the other hand, nurses are doing duties that care assistants could be doing. Some of the private hospitals now have theatre assistants providing back-up support in theatres. We have made no progress in restructuring what the workforce does. There are highly qualified people who are not allowed to do tasks that they are qualified to do but are doing tasks that others, such as care assistants, could easily do. We are prevented from taking them in. Are we going to consider a restructuring in order to get a more efficient service?