James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

Sufficient funds are in place to ensure appropriately staffed beds are available in the hospital mentioned. The Deputy should bear in mind that we are discussing low acuity and not high acuity.

An analysis was done by the SDU on the IT system that was installed at a cost of less than €250,000. Although it is not completely installed throughout the system yet, it is a fraction of the €10 million we were told it would cost and it was completed in 98 days rather than in 18 months. We now know that early January is the key crunch point. It is not as a result of increased numbers attending the emergency department, but as a result of work practices in hospitals throughout the country. The increase in activity comes as people come back from holidays and many elective procedures take place. Those need to be spread throughout the year to avoid creating the double crunch we get.

I can reassure the Deputy that there will be sufficient resources in my view to deal with the problems. However, this was never about more money but about the way we work. It is about more flexibility from consultants in giving us the Saturday and Sunday discharges we have discussed here. It is about diagnostics at the weekend so that X-rays, and ultrasound and CT scans can be read and patients discharged. It is about nurses working differently and not expecting to work the entire week in three days. It is about NCHDs, GPs and pharmacists working differently. It is about the core principle of treating the patient at the lowest level of complexity that is safe, timely, efficient and as near to home as possible. We do not want the wrong overqualified person dealing with a problem that could be dealt with by somebody at an entirely lower level much more conveniently to the patient and at much less cost to the State.

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