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

As the Deputy knows, GPs can inject joints, provided they are sufficiently trained to do so. They often do not do it for medical card patients because it is not economical to do so. One of the items that will be under discussion in the new contract talks with the IMO, which are due to start shortly, is that of changes to what are called special-type consultations - the additional fees that GPs get for suturing a wound, injecting a joint and the like. That is certainly one of the things that can be negotiated as part of the new contract.

Because of the budget cuts, Cappagh was very restricted last year and, at one point, only two of the seven theatres were open. Now, because of the additional finance we got this year, of which Cappagh got an extra €3.8 million, four or five of the seven theatres are functioning.

That has allowed it to increase capacity. I would like to get them all open but the issue we are not running into in Cappagh is a shortage of theatre nurses. That is a further barrier but there is an increase in activity.

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