James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I do know, however, that many of our hospitals must change the way they deliver care. We must have far more day case surgery, we must have far more cases admitted on the day of surgery, rather than the night before and I know we need greater flexibility in our staffing and how we approach this problem. There is huge room for improvement within our hospitals. That is not to castigate those who work there; people must work within the system as it exists. The Government's commitment is to change that system so we can have greater results for patients and greater numbers of patients treated safely in an appropriate setting. We do not want to have patients being treated in Dublin who should be treated in Portlaoise and we do not want to have patients being treated in Portlaoise who should be treated by their GP.

The Deputy is right; there is no question of maternity services leaving Portlaoise. There is no capacity within the greater Dublin maternity hospitals to cater for people beyond the Dublin region, even though small numbers have come from outside the catchment areas. It is difficult, however, to assess how many but I encourage people who have uncomplicated pregnancies to go local, which is more convenient and the service is excellent.

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