Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the committee, including all members present, for their strong support of the consultant contract because that is the cornerstone of this. When I discussed exactly this matter in Limerick, the contract was referenced. The intent from the Government's perspective is reformed working practices; I fully agree. Using UHL as an example, I asked for information on the increase in workforce before the committee meeting and can provide it to the committee afterwards. Pre-Covid to now, the number of consultants has gone up by approximately one quarter from 165 to 205; the number of non-consultant hospital doctors, NCHDs, has gone up by almost one third from 388 to 505; and the number of nurses has gone up by approximately one quarter from 1,600 to 2,100, so there has been a lot of investment. As the Deputy said, while we are putting in this investment, we must also support those workers to work in a modern way that works for patients.