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

I am not aware of the preparation of any business plan by the Government. Business plans for services are generally done by a hospital, a hospital group or the HSE. To ensure that lives are protected, it is important that any specialist service has adequate throughput, which means enough patients and in sufficient volume to ensure quality, critical mass and specialisation. It must also be adequately staffed. The first step in Waterford is to extend the hours of the existing cath lab, because any new cath lab will take time to build. There are currently three cardiologists. If six people can cover a 24-7 service, surely the existing three people can cover a 12-hour service seven days a week. As the Deputy should know, if he does not already, there is great difficulty in hiring cardiologists and being able to cover rotas in the way that people expect. If a rota is not covered, this results in a greater patient safety risk. An unsafe service is not a good thing. We want people to have a safe service, and it is better that people travel to obtain a safe service than have an unsafe service close by.

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