Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It would mean opening diagnostic suites longer, for which provision was not made. It would mean sanctioning posts for nurses in emergency care that have already been agreed as safe staffing levels and it would mean increasing homecare packages linked to discharge from hospitals, which doctors have told me would free up beds in hospitals and allow people to be transferred from emergency care. We want residents of Northern Ireland to have access to all services.

We also want those services at a minimum to be comparable to what they already have in the North. Ideally, we want them to be much better. Obviously, we will support this Bill. We will see it put through tonight. We would very much like to see the attention, focus, investment and care provided by this Government for the services that would be accessed under the Bill.

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