Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The hospital has got on top of what was an unacceptable situation at the start of the week. Let us look at what the Government is doing in the medium term in order to increase capacity. What is required is a combination of increased capacity and improved efficiency and management systems. Increased capacity is a priority for the Government, as we have stated. An additional 241 beds were opened under the winter initiative of 2017-2018, and the national service plan for 2019 provides for a comprehensive capacity programme. Elements of this programme include 75 acute beds and 70 community beds scheduled to come on stream in early 2019 as part of the winter plan. The HSE has confirmed that 46 acute beds have been opened to date. I could go on and list a series of other capital expenditure programmes that are being invested in, including in Limerick, which is a major focus in terms of extra bed capacity. One of the issues-----

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