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

I went to see it when I visited Clonmel a few weeks ago. When it is completed it will be staffed but we know from bitter experience throughout the country that merely providing additional beds and additional staff does not solve the problem. We need extra beds. We need to make sure that beds are used efficiently, that the length of stay is reduced and that patients are not waiting days for necessary investigations to see specialists for interventions. A hospital that has a length of stay of six days needs more beds than one with a length of stay of four days but no more people get treated.

The third element which I mentioned is ensuring we do much more in primary care services and the community because in Ireland we do too much in hospitals and not enough in the community. That is why we concluded an agreement with general practitioners last week.

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