Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I quite agree with the Deputy. That there are 700 mostly elderly patients awaiting discharge in hospitals is not only bad for the health service but it is also bad for those individuals because they are more at risk of acquiring an infection in hospital and falls. It is bad all round.

It is frustrating that we have been talking about this issue for ten years. It is not something that has happened in recent weeks; it is not a sudden crisis. This is a chronic problem in the health service that has been ongoing since I was a medical student and I find it frustrating that we are still grappling with it. I will be working on the matter with the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, and we intend to put together an integrated plan to deal with it, starting with home care and moving all the way through the hospital system. This will have to be funded, which obviously will be a struggle.

See this speech in context