Mr. Liam Woods:

I will seek the logic. The Deputy asked about scoliosis surgery and aggressive waiting list management. Overall, the approach to managing waiting lists is set out by NTPF policy. While it should be focused and competent, if I heard "aggressive", it would be a concern. I am happy to check that out. The time targets are short for scoliosis, with a four-month clinical target, so it requires a fair amount of contact with individuals and families. We have to manage that, and that is part of the challenge that the Children's Hospital Group and individual hospitals are working on. I will certainly look at that and would be happy to hear more about any concern regarding aggression.

The Deputy referred to the WRC. There are matters before the WRC between the HSE and nursing unions. She referred to the recruitment level, the workforce plan and the total number of nurses. There are issues and we are working on them. From an acute hospitals perspective, I work with a funded position for all staff, including nursing. That is expressed in our pay and numbers, and is contained within the nursing workforce plan. There was a challenge late last year. Part of our success in that is putting in new development posts. In the acute system, 1,100 new posts are being funded this year, of which approximately 500 are nurses.

At all stages we are seeking to convert from agency nursing to employed nurses. Last year we converted about €7.5 million in agency cost into nursing cost, and we did the same with medical locums. There are issues and we are working on them.