Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I welcome the fact that the Minister accepts that we need to move away from the historical pattern of providing a small increase or decrease to hospitals every year, irrespective of the demands put on them. In measuring outcome, surely Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin must measure up well. The Minister is talking about taking action that will give children a better outcome for the future. In many cases, pain and suffering will be avoided because of early intervention. Yet through no fault of their own, as the birth rate has gone up, the rate of serious illness among children that can be treated has also gone up, and the demands on the hospital have gone up. In the last four years, day activity has gone up by 30%, outpatient activity has gone up by 23%, and theatre procedures have gone up by 34%.

While the Minister may be right in stating that savings can be made through co-operation among the three hospitals, there needs to be intervention among children in order to address the fact that waiting lists are growing due to increased demand for the most important sector of our population, namely, children with serious illnesses.

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