Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

The Minister set up the HSE nearly three years ago to centralise the system so that bureaucracy could be reduced and more funding could be released for direct patient care. What monitoring does the Minister carry out on the HSE? The growth in senior management numbers is extraordinary, in spite of her explanation today. What hands-on relationship does she have with the HSE to ensure that we do not spend scarce health money on bureaucrats when it should be spent on patients? If she can give me a clear answer we might have some understanding of what is going on.

Does the Minister think it makes sense that patients who are ready to go home are occupying specialised beds in the National Rehabilitation Hospital? Patients who need to come in, such as a man who received serious head injuries in a farm accident, cannot do so because other people who are ready to go home are occupying beds. Can the Minister comment on this crazy use of funding for specialised health services?

I received a copy of a letter sent to the Minister by 93 general practitioners in Sligo. With regard to the HSE embargo, they say, "To state that these moves will have no effect on patient care is dishonest and wrong and is insulting to the professionals involved". Are these 93 doctors wrong when they say that patients are directly impacted upon by these cuts? Will the Minister use her power to ensure that the HSE does not continue with this embargo, which is hurting patients?

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