Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

It is a scandal that almost half the number of patients admitted to hospital through the accident and emergency department are not admitted within six hours. What changes or improvements in this regard will take place in the coming year? Will the Minister confirm that 1,100 acute hospital beds are to be closed this year owing to the cuts proposed in the service plan? If that is the case, how is the Health Service Executive to reach its targets in terms of reducing the number of people on trolleys in accident and emergency departments and in regard to reducing the waiting times for people to be admitted to hospital? How can the Minister square that circle? It seems to me to be impossible.

The cuts are right across the board. How are more people to be treated in the community if the community is also suffering cuts and the effects of the moratorium? The Minister stated she will address the fact that the fair deal scheme is causing people to remain in hospital unnecessarily. That people cannot leave hospital owing to the situation in regard to medical assessments is a serious problem. The Minister spoke about this issue in a general way. What specifically does she intend to do in regard to the conditions of the fair deal scheme, in particular the financial assessments which are the core of the problem? For example, will people be permitted to leave hospital before their assessment has been completed? What specific measures does the Minister have in mind?

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