Ms Eilísh Hardiman:

I spoke a bit about this earlier when the Deputy was out of the room, but I have no problem repeating it. There are multiple factors that would help us both in recruiting and retaining staff. Restoration of pay parity is one such factor, as the Deputy mentioned. Helping staff to find affordable accommodation in Dublin is one of the priority issues we have identified. To that end, we would like to work with Dublin City Council and others. We are working on policies on affordable housing to ensure our staff have a sustainable commute to and from work, as opposed to having to drive many miles.

Another issue we have identified is that digitisation of the system would help because people are coming from a system that is digitised and want to work in that way. They are coming to us with lots of ideas on how to connect with patients, patients' families and other clinicians. It is not just about new electronic healthcare worker records but also using apps and so on and looking at new ways of doing things. The most important aspect is that when staff come back and talk to us about this, it is clear they really want to make a difference. They are here because they want to care for children and make a difference. The new buildings and new ways of working attract them and they are up for the change and willing to be rostered until midnight if it makes services better for children. We must find ways to support them as much as possible in that regard.

We have seven new emergency department consultants, but some of them are on maternity leave. That is just the reality of the challenge we face, that there are often temporary reasons we do not have every position filled. We have two people in promotional posts. We seem to be able to fill the permanent posts, but the challenge lies in filling locum positions. These are some of the issues we are looking to address, especially accommodation, pay and, in addition, ensuring the team we are putting in place is an interdisciplinary one. Our staff want to work in new roles and with new people. The general paediatricians, for example, are being assigned clinical nurse specialists which they never had before. That type of change is making a great difference to how they deliver their services. In general, we are concerned not just to keep doing the same old thing but, instead, to use digitisation, new roles and other things that deliver better value to patients.