Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Let me make the point about the health issue again. The co-location issue is about re-designating private beds in public hospitals into public beds and in turn providing private beds co-located with the public hospital facility as the best way of working together and keeping consultants all on site. That is about the re-designation of private beds. The issue the Deputy is raising is different. It is about the number of public beds we are providing for the elderly within our hospital system given that there is a policy to move people, under the fair care system etc., back into the community within the homes and supporting people in their homes for longer. The traditional system in the past was that as soon as a person became somewhat infirm - we know there are different degrees of dependency which are set out in the various regulations in terms of people's eligibility for assistance etc. - he or she would have gone straight into the hospital system.

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