Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If the Deputy will bear with me a moment, I will address the three parts.

The hospital group has made a submission on Merlin Park. There is merit in the suggestion that more can be done in Merlin Park. We are about to have a mid-term capital review this year and I have asked that the HSE consider it in that context. That is the situation in that regard.

In respect of University Hospital Galway, the second piece on the emergency department, ED, as the Deputy will be aware, the design phase has been approved for the emergency department and funding has been made available for that piece.

Once the design phase is approved, that then moves forward in the context of the capital plan. In regard to third piece, which is the ambulance service, I do not have the information for the Deputy but I will come back to her directly.

In response to Deputy Louise O'Reilly, I would be happy to share with her the information I have on the bed capacity review. The review will assess the following: first, current capacity and levels of unmet demand; second, trends in better utilisation of existing capacity and scope for further gains; third, drivers of future demand, including demographics, which is a big part of this, and epidemiological trends, innovations and technological advances; and, fourth, further capacity requirements based on a preferred model of care. As the Deputy knows, the committee of which she is a member and which aims to produce the ten-year plan on the future of the health service, is a very important part of that. If we are making a shift to primary care, we need to examine what impact that will have on bed capacity. I know the committee is making an input in that regard.

This will be a substantial body of work. This idea that we can just pluck a figure, say it is the number of beds we need and not be cognisant of the model of care or of primary care would not be a sound way to do this. However, we will have a crystallised ask for the mid-term capital review in terms of how many additional beds we believe we need in the Irish health service.

With regard to nursing, I am very reluctant to say anything that is unhelpful to the process that is ongoing.

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