Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It also raises questions about the terms of the recent Sláintecare contract which is for six rather than seven days.

I will raise one other question about outsourcing. We will continue to seek details of the extent of outsourcing that is happening in the HSE. It is a question of shirking responsibility. It is a bit like the National Treatment Purchase Fund. It is much easier if services are bought in and the responsibility that goes with it is not taken on. It is a poor practice in many ways. We must cease it and go back to providing a proper level of public services. One case that concerns me is that of a 91-year-old woman who was referred by her GP to hospital for an intravenous, IV, antibiotic. She waited eight hours. Her daughter brought her home. The family clubbed together and came up with the €200 to go back to the private part of the same hospital the next morning and she was seen immediately. Is there not a serious conflict of interest in that? Hospitals that have public and private sections are making a lot of money from the private part and are not providing adequate services in the public part.