Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In discussing acute health care, we spend much of our time trying to find ways to solve immediate problems. Very often, front-line staff, management, administrators, Ministers and HSE officials are firefighting to make our system and facilities work in the interests of patients. We all agree that firefighting alone is not enough. We must plan for the future and put in place a framework that will deliver the best health care service for generations to come. Sometimes it involves bold decisions, radical thinking and a commitment to drive a project or change. The Government has been doing this. We have been driving change and changing how we deliver in our health care system.

Acute hospital services in Cork are at capacity in terms of services and the development phase at Cork University Hospital, Mercy University Hospital and South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital. The last two hospitals operate in buildings dating back to the 1850s and 1760s. I hope Deputy Kelleher agrees that Cork needs a new acute hospital that will be developed in modular fashion over a 20-year period. This will future proof health services and ensure we have the capacity to meet the needs of a growing population in Ireland’s second city outside of Dublin and our most populous county.

The report of the non-executive advisory board which the Minister recently received sets out a realistic and achievable vision. It presents an opportunity to develop health services in a more cost-efficient way and ensure it will not happen in just five years but over a 50-year period and for time to come. It is a rare opportunity for our health services in Cork. I have already spoken with the chairman of the group and have met Professor John Higgins. I have spoken to the Minister and I hope we will meet again, and I will raise it at the health committee, of which I am Chairman. It is an important project which needs to be promoted and championed and it can and will deliver improved health services for the people of Cork.

On the motion before us, the Government has provided €18 million extra funding, reduced delayed discharges from December to now and guaranteed a further €51 million. There is a need to prioritise how we spend our money in health. The motion does not give us a platform within which to bring change or a blueprint on how to bring about change that will deliver a better service. I commend the men and women who work on the front line of our health services. They are doing more with less, they are productive and they have brought quantum change to our health service. They deserve our praise.

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