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

I thank all of our guests for their presentations here this morning and for dealing with the issues being raised. I will go back to an issue I raised last week. The reason I am raising it again is that I am dealing with three individual cases in respect of Cork University Hospital, CUH. One of these people was in CUH for over 12 months when he could have been discharged within two months of initially going into hospital because no care facility was identified for him. He was over 12 months in CUH. In fairness, excellent care was provided to him. I am currently dealing with a further two cases where there seems to be difficulty in discharging people to the care facilities they require. I raised the issue of the number of community beds in the south and south west area being reduced. We are talking about having more care in the community yet my understanding is that there are 240 beds fewer in the Cork and Kerry region. With regard to the two people who are now in CUH, there is one private nursing home that is prepared to take at least one if not both of them. However, there are only ten contracted beds in that private nursing home and the HSE is not prepared to engage with the home on that issue.