Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will move on to one or two other issues now. One again relates to a nurse who was working here in Ireland and is now working in London and I have raised this before. This is on the lack of co-ordination as to who is on call or available in hospitals. She would go in to work and 20 nurses should be there. One day she would go in there would be eight senior nurses and 12 junior nurses. The next day she would go in there would be two senior nurses and 18 junior nurses. As a result, the whole system is slowing up. In London, she is now finding that no matter what day of the week she goes in, Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, there is the same ratio. It is the same every day, seven days a week and is, therefore, a far more efficient system. When are we going to change that in our Irish hospitals where someone is not setting out such a system now? When one has a small number of senior nurses, there is a whole slow-up in the system, especially in accident and emergency. How can we deal with that issue?