Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are some concerns around the surgical hubs idea. I am aware of the reuse model in Tallaght. One of the reasons it is successful relates to an issue we touched on previously.

Normally, when there is a challenge with emergency department beds, the first beds to get it, so to speak, are the day care beds. Part of the success story of the Tallaght model was where it remained open in the past year, even though there were challenges right across the ED system. Is that one of the advantages and is that what the HSE is looking at with regard to the roll-out of these other surgical beds, that they are part of the hospital system but cannot directly be called on, as such, with regard to closures or be used for other things, and that they are purely for those day patients?