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

I am informed by the Minister for Health that funding has now been extended to Roscommon hospital to extend the period of service of its medical assessment unit from five days per week to seven days per week. I imagine there will be a lag period in making that happen as staff are recruited and rosters are changed but that is very much under way.

The Deputy is absolutely correct. Model 2 hospitals and hospitals that do not have emergency departments can play a very effective role in providing for elective surgery and day cases, access to diagnostics and giving GPs direct access to these hospitals through medical assessment units. The fact that they do not have emergency departments means that they can plan care much better because they do not have to deal with the unpredictability as to whether 30 or 40 patients will need to be admitted from the emergency department on a given day. They can plan their work much more than hospitals that have emergency departments. Ultimately, decisions on resource allocations should not be directed by my office or the Minister. That is very much in line with the recommendations made in the Sláintecare report which states such decisions should be dealt with by the HSE and the hospital groups.

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