Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

To be honest, we have not made much progress. The Comhairle na nOspidéal recommendation was to increase from 14 to 39 in the long term and from 14 to 29 in the short term. The report also recommended that the number of consultant neurophysiologist posts be increased from three to nine. This year we have provided additional funding in the different regions for services in this area. As the Deputy is aware, we must increase the number of consultant posts from 1,940 or just below 2,000 to 3,600 and we must have timeframes on the various specialties at national and regional level because there are major discrepancies in this and other areas and very long waiting periods. Best international practice suggests there should be one post per 100,000 people. It is clear that is the target that must be reached. I am not in a position to say how long it will take but I hope that when we have the full complement of staff employed in the HSE and a new chief executive officer to set down targets, we can monitor this and other areas for the recruitment of key consultants.

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