David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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We will wait and see what comes to Cabinet. We need that to happen very quickly. What is the indicative timeframe for the delivery of the elective-only hospitals? There is a lot of talk about these hospitals. We all support them, whatever about the locations that some people might have their own views on. What is the timeframe for their delivery?

I want to make a final point to the Minister before Mr. Tierney comes in. The Minister talked about management at University Hospital Limerick. I am not singling out any management as being good or bad. That is not the point he was making, and is certainly not one I am going to make. We have good practice in hospitals; the Minister gave the example of University Hospital Waterford. It can also be seen in Bantry General Hospital as well with the medical assessment unit. My understanding is that is colocated with step-down beds as well, which seems to work very well. There are lots of examples we can see where things are being done better in some hospitals. With that said, I would be troubled if hospital management was not being mandated to implement best practice.

The new chief executive of the HSE was before the committee recently, and he said that one of his first tasks would be to bring together all of the managers of the hospitals to identify best practice and then mandate it. That is his job, but it is also the Minister's job. Whether it is pushback, or whether there are issues with staff or whatever it might be, it is unacceptable. Best practice is best practice, and if there is to be any chance of reducing those wait times in emergency departments, every hospital needs to work to the highest standard. It is our job to make that happen.

It is the Minister's specifically and that of the head of the HSE. Will the Minister comment on that, followed by Mr. Tierney?