Ms Angela Fitzgerald:

Everybody here knows from where the funds come. Certainly in the interim the challenge is the patients are typically nursed and this creates displacement elsewhere. It is important the committee understands nursing is provided to manage the patients but it means staffing elsewhere in the hospital is challenged. Something else we are trying to do in the very short term is to reduce this. The basis for this is not being able to place patients up the house. We have already made progress, working with the INMO through weekly engagement, on ensuring that we make improvements on this on a day to day basis. The HSE would not want to see boarded patients accepted on an ongoing basis and that there is a plan to fail. We and the INMO recognise that staff found should be placed up the house if the situation improves. This is the situation at present.

The Deputy specifically asked about the beds. Initially, 55 acute beds were announced, with 18 step-down beds in Mercy University Hospital. Due to staffing challenges, some of the named sites for the 55 beds were not able to proceed in time for winter. We redirected the resource. As of today 28 beds are open in Galway and there are ten in Beaumont, with an additional five beds outside of the 55, 18 beds in Mercy-----