Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I join my colleagues in expressing sympathy with the families of the two people who have died as a result of swine flu. Can the Minister provide any further information in this regard? I do not know how much of it is a matter of public record.

The Minister referred to a special team that will go into some hospitals to deal with overcrowding in accident and emergency departments. She mentioned Drogheda, Beaumont, Limerick and Tallaght hospitals. Will she outline the terms of reference of this team, what exactly it will be doing in the hospitals, when its work will commence, whether there is a prioritisation in terms of the order in which the various hospitals are inspected, whether the same team will operate in all the hospitals and how broad is the team's remit?

One innovation that has improved the situation in terms of transferring patients into hospital beds and out of clogged accident and emergency departments is where general practitioners have greater access to clinical decision makers. That works well in certain hospitals, including in Limerick where there is an effective unit. A similar system is also in operation in Kilkenny. Having said that, problems persist in Limerick and they are largely a question of patient volumes and lack of capacity. To what extent is work being done to ensure better relationships between general practitioners and acute hospitals in order to alleviate the situation in accident and emergency units and, for example, facilitate access to diagnostics, which was one of the issued raised by the Minister?

See this speech in context