Dr. Peadar Gilligan:

Regarding the environment we create in public hospitals, because of the lack of capacity, patients are waiting on beds for protracted periods of time, their family members are stressed trying to advocate on their behalf and the staff are stressed trying to advocate and deliver treatment. The reason that does not happen in private emergency departments is that they have the capacity to move patients through the system in a timely manner. We do not have that capacity in the public system, which is why we are here advocating yet again in terms of the capacity that we need so that the environment becomes less stressful for patients, the staff and the relatives of those patients.

The other point to make, which is a very important point, is that we create a more risk-prone environment by not providing the capacity the system needs. I take the Deputy's point that historically the Government may have been incorrectly advised regarding the requirements of the system but with a growing and ageing population and increased complexity of care needs, we definitely need that capacity and I hope the Deputy will support that.