Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is the seminal question. At its most basic level we can stop it by doing two things, namely, expanding the permanent capacity in our public health workforce at a record level and reforming our public health service in line with universal healthcare and the reforms called for in Sláintecare. That means a massive investment in community-based care and the National Ambulance Service to keep people out of the emergency departments in the first place and massive investment in general practice. It means investing in discharge options, such as short-term beds and home care provision. We also have to reform the way patients are cared for and the patient flow within hospitals. We must, for example, have more senior decision-makers available and they must have access to diagnostics. They must have access to health and social care professionals. They must have access to discharge options. Essentially, everything we are doing in order to achieve universal healthcare, and this is a core element of that, really boils down to two things: a massive investment in capacity, workforce, e-health, beds, theatres and community-based care etc., as well as a fundamental reshaping of how we deliver care in line with Sláintecare to deliver it in people's homes, in the community, in general practice and then, only when necessary, in a hospital.