David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Corey and Ms O'Connell. In her opening statement Ms O’Connell said that many of the long Covid clinics remain unstaffed or understaffed. There are staff but there is understaffing in most, if not all, of them. I am looking at the briefing document we got from the HSE, which speaks about the eight post-acute Covid clinics and the six long Covid clinics, and there is one neurology clinic which essentially is a neurology unit that takes referrals of patients diagnosed with long Covid. They are referred because of symptoms associated with long Covid. The HSE states that there are 65 approved posts for long Covid, across all of the long Covid clinics, the post-acute clinics and the neurology clinic in St. James's Hospital. When we speak about understaffing what is it based on? Is it based on the commitment that was given that has not been met? Is it based on the experience of sufferers engaging with these clinics? The HSE is coming before the committee and we want to be able to put these questions directly to its representatives.