Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If the Deputy wants to correspond with me, I would be grateful to get the details of the case in question. I would be happy to raise it with the HSE because we need to take a serious look at how we can reduce the number of delayed discharges in our health service. I want to see the home care packages that we are funding to help people to get back home deployed as quickly as possible. I will send the Deputy a note on the 30 further acute medical beds that are scheduled to open in CUH later this year. As I have mentioned, two additional critical care beds have been opened in the hospital in recent months. A further two critical care beds are due to open this year. An additional 32 beds - 30 acute medical beds and two critical care beds - are scheduled to open. I remind the House that we announced in the capital plan that an elective hospital will be developed in Cork. This is quite important. I appreciate that a busy acute hospital like CUH, which is dealing with pressures in its emergency department, also wants to be able to tackle its elective waiting lists. It will be of benefit to the Cork area to have a stand-alone elective-only hospital to drive down waiting lists. I look forward to making progress with this project.

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