Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I share the Deputy's concerns. It is offensive to people as they age to have a tag put on them which is clearly not of their own making. The number is not 600, although it is a substantial one. The number ranges from between 400 and 460 at any one time and we all know the significance of that in terms of the cost of an acute hospital bed.

The reason we are putting in the 25 intermediate-transitional care beds, which will benefit 650 people, and the 20 beds for cases that are more complex, which will benefit 130 people, is for the very reason the Deputy stated, that we should take a serious look at how we move people on. It is about transferring people to transitional beds and giving them the type of physiotherapy, the type of supports they need in order to transition back to their own community and the high-spec intensive care packages to support them in their own community.

We are very conscious that we need to do things differently and that the need will increase but we are convinced that if we do this properly, the outcome will be much better, not only for the State and the taxpayer but for the people who need the care and support.

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