Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)

I know that the vast majority of people in the HSE work extremely hard and are committed to delivering a service for the population. I notice a lot of focus on moving from five days to seven days. One of the issues that came to my attention about two years ago is about use of operating theatres in the HSE compared to the private sector. For instance, I know of one hospital where no patient is allowed into theatre after 4 p.m. on the basis that the finishing time is at 5 p.m. What have we done to try to increase the number of people who can be treated, rather than finishing everything at 5 p.m.? This would involve working with staff to work until 8 p.m. so that a lot more work could be done in that period. That is what most of the voluntary hospitals do. I am not sure if we are using facilities to their full potential in the HSE system. What kind of examination has been done in this area to try to get more people through the system?