David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before I address the representatives of Croí, I will make a number of points. The Irish Heart Foundation's opening statement refers to growing concern that 70 to 75 posts required under the strategy for 2024 will not be delivered. I would say it is a certainty they will not be delivered because there is no new additional funding. We had that clarified at this committee a number of weeks ago by the Department. We also have a recruitment embargo in place. While we were recruiting between 6,000 and 7,000 additional net staff a year for the past three years in the health service, the maximum for next year is 2,200. I would say there is a good chance that the vast majority, if not all, of those posts will not be filled.

The opening statement indicated that this could mean some 500 cases of preventable deaths and severe permanent disability among patients who are not admitted to a unit. It mentioned bed days increasing by 12,000 a year and an additional requirement for long-term care resulting in no net savings. Essentially this means that delayed care and not providing these supports mean that people will ultimately be in a worse condition and will need more care and that this does not even make sense from a cost-benefit perspective because we will spend more on aftercare because we have not properly funded the stroke strategy in the budget for next year. Is that a fair assessment?