Colm Burke (Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses for their detailed presentations. On the basis of the presentations made, it would appear there are around 26,900 people per week attending accident and emergency departments, or around 3,800 per day. If there is a 20% increase in that there is huge pressure on the system, and a sudden 20% increase would not be unusual. On the 29 units, it was said that some of the units do not have consultants on call at particular times. I recently had a meeting with the Mercy University Hospital. It has a consultant on call for only 55 hours, yet it has a 24/7 accident and emergency department with over 30,000 attendances per annum. How many units do not have a consultant on call, and during what periods are consultants not on call?

An issue was raised with me by young general practitioners recently who are afraid of starting out on their own in general practice because they are afraid of the job insecurity. I recently spoke to a GP working in Canada who works a number of sessions in the local hospital. We do not seem to have that connection. The young GPs said to me that they had no problem starting up a new GP practice if they could also get hours in the local hospital. I came across someone who practiced paediatrics for five or six years and then dropped out of the system and went into general practice. That person has huge experience in paediatrics, yet cannot use that experience in a hospital. Has employing GPs ever been looked at from the hospital point of view. I am not saying full time, but rather three or four three hour sessions a week so that they have security of income.

We speak about the increase in accident and emergency all the time but we have not focused on the issue of excessive drinking and how that contributes to the increases. What kind of percentage are we talking about? I know that previously 30% of people were attending accident and emergency as a result of accidents related to excessive drinking. While we are focusing on accident and emergency departments, the HSE and the Department, we are not really focusing on people's own responsibilities as well. I would appreciate an outline on that issue, which is an important one.

I agree with Ms King about the number of beds. The Minister was in the Seanad earlier today and said that the last time a major hospital was built in this country was 1988. Even at a time when there was money available we did not focus on this, and we still have 2.8 beds per thousand when the OECD average is 4.3. What type of programme would people like to see over the next ten years with regard to new hospitals, and how many new beds should be created over that time period per annum?