James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept the Deputy is concerned about the embargo, which is not an unreasonable position. I have made it clear that over 700 nurses were recruited last year. The embargo - or employment control framework - remains in place but, as I have stated on many occasions, it has never been implemented so rigidly as to not allow us recruit where we felt it was necessary.

One of the big problems in the health service is the skill mix. I have asked why some model four hospitals - the big tertiary hospitals - have nine nurses per health care assistant but in others it is 2.8 nurses per health care assistant. Why are consultants doing work that advance nurse practitioners or GPs could be doing? I hope we are all familiar with the fact that in orthopaedics, to which the Deputy's question relates, as physiotherapists review all the referrals, over 50% can be dealt with by a physiotherapist and a patient does not have to see the consultant surgeon. We are changing many things.

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