Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate what the Minister has said about what is going to happen in future. It makes sense that there would be a certain level of collaboration between Beaumont and St. Vincent's. However, I do not understand why we have had this hiatus. It has been known for 30 years that this man, the lead surgeon, would retire. Why were plans not put in place in advance of his retirement in order that there could be a seamless transition from the old to the new system? I was a member of the old Eastern Health Board. I admit that during its existence there were significant problems with recruitment and personnel management. To this day there seems to be major problems within the HSE in the area of services and recruiting vital personnel. As I understand it, a pancreas transplant is one of the most complex organ transplants that can be undertaken. The survival rate after five years is of the order of 74%, with a 51% survival rate after 15 years. I recently read that providing a transplant to one person effectively saves the HSE €700,000 over a 15-year period by comparison with the cost of providing that person with dialysis.

This needs to be tackled urgently. People's lives are affected. Moreover, the budget of the health service is being adversely affected. The problem is almost universal within the HSE. I am referring to its inability to effectively manage personnel, forecast where vacancies are going to arise and show initiative and do what those in the private sector would do. It would be unimaginable in any private operation that an impending vacancy would not be filled in such a way as has occurred in this case.

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