Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is discretion now. At this meeting next year or at the budget meeting, we will start reporting region by region, which will allow for some important comparisons between the different regions. There is discretion within the regions. It is nuanced. We cannot provide full discretion because there are things we all want to roll out. If we fund the national cancer strategy, it is not up to the region to decide whether or not it will roll it out. Where the new regional executive officers are already beginning to apply that discretion is in individual hospitals, and between acute and community. For example, if there are very high-priority teams that are understaffed, perhaps there are lower priority areas that could be looked at in terms of redeployment.