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

There is no pretence. I am very aware that there is a serious problem with overcrowding, trolleys and delayed discharges in our hospitals. In many ways, they are symptoms of a more systemic problem within our hospitals. Warnings are not solutions. Solutions require plans, money, action and co-operation. It was mentioned that there are approximately 800 delayed discharges. The additional €25 million is not paltry. It is 300 additional long-term care places and 400 additional home care packages. That is a total of 700. It is not as simple as 800 minus 700 because, of course, new delayed discharges arise every week. However, it will allow us to get a handle on this for a period in the short term. It will not solve the problem.

Part of what is being put in place for the longer term is the opening of Mount Carmel as a community hospital in Dublin. Dublin, uniquely, does not have a community hospital for step-down care. It will now have one for the first time, with the first beds opening next March. We are putting in place additional community intervention teams. These are nurses who can see patients at home. Patients can be discharged more quickly and get their IV, intravenous therapy, at home. Nurses can also go to nursing homes. For example, if an elderly person in a nursing home has a urinary tract infection, UTI, or an infection, they can be treated in the nursing home and not be required to go through the emergency department.

We have a suite of short-term solutions and a suite of long-term solutions. There are also big issues around patient flow, and that will require a lot to happen. It is disappointing, but true, that in many of our hospitals ward rounds are not happening at weekends and during the day. Patients are not being discharged by consultants as they might be. It is also unfortunately true in our hospitals that when beds become available they go to elective admissions, even when there is overcrowding in the emergency department. It is a very difficult issue to tackle.

It is interesting to see the huge variations from hospital to hospital. Two miles away from Beaumont Hospital is the Mater Hospital, which has a very similar catchment area and a not dissimilar budget, and not far away from there is St. James's Hospital. They have their problems, but certainly not on the scale of Beaumont Hospital. Beaumont Hospital has had problems since the day it was opened.

These are not straightforward issues. It is not a case of Action Man Minister going there with a bag of money or a ministerial order-----

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