Ms Catherine Keogh:

I wish to declare that I have clogged up an accident and emergency unit on two occasions. I broke my arm in Athlone and ended up in Roscommon County Hospital on a Friday afternoon where I received a brilliant service. I was in denial about having a broken arm but it turns out that I am no good at self-diagnosis after an X-ray proved that it was broken. I was working in Athlone that day so I returned to work after a plaster of Paris was applied to my arm and before I left the hospital I was given a note to go to Beaumont Hospital as I live in Dublin. When I went to Beaumont Hospital I had to queue again but this time in its accident and emergency department. Therefore, I visited two accident and emergency units with one broken arm. Before I left the county hospital I was given a CD that contained copies of my X-ray. When I presented my CD to the staff in Beaumont Hospital a couple of days later they could not read the CD so they had to cut my plaster and perform another X-ray. My arm was X-rayed, a diagnosis made and plaster of Paris reapplied but I needlessly clogged up the unit in Beaumont Hospital for four or five hours.

Earlier my colleague, Ms Cully, referred to the definition of administrative grades. In terms of administrative grades, planning, joined-up thinking and integrated services, my experience of having a broken arm showed there is no proper IT system. Within those admininstrative management figures are IT people. Again, the IT personnel are highly qualified and perform a highly responsible job. We agree with the Senator that planning is needed but throwing numbers into the system will not suffice and we stress that a targeted approach is needed.