Mr. Bernard Gloster:

There is a number of parts to it. It will come as no surprise to Senator Conway to hear me say publicly, as I do privately, that I share his concern about Limerick and about the experience for people in the mid-west. I live there and have worked there so the level of concern is not lost on me. I understand it quite intimately. I am concerned about UHL, of course, because it is under pressure and will remain under sustained pressure. However, there are a couple of positive things that are helping. The first is that the DTOC position is probably the best in the country, in terms of keeping patient flow to the absolute maximum. That is shared between the hospital and the community healthcare organisation there and I intend for that to continue. That is the first thing, the first step in making sure capacity is available. The second thing is that Limerick has had very significant investment this year and last year in terms of staffing and in terms of additional focus on expertise to manage, to the best degree possible, the whole patient flow from the time somebody turns up at the door. That will all continue and is in place so regardless of any recruitment pauses, Limerick has done well in that regard. On the third thing, I want to be very clear that I do not want to commit the regulator to a position because that is not my job and it would not be appropriate, but the regulator visited unannounced as recently as yesterday. My understanding - again, I want to be very clear that I am not committing the regulator to a position and I will own this - is that the feedback in relation to the management of concern and risk would certainly be encouraging. I will leave it at that because I do not want to stray into the space. HIQA can comment further on it.