Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The HSE’s national service plan was published in the past two days. I acknowledge an increase of €1.4 billion in funding. However, I am astounded the plan is cutting the number of short-stay beds in public units from 1,929 to 1,720, a decrease of 209. There is no rationale behind this or explanation for it. It flies in the face of the HSE's capacity review which called for between 5,600 and 6,300 extra beds under the category by 2030. This cut means the Government is failing to meet a growing need and is ignoring the evidence of several reports which it commissioned. This will challenge services for older people in 2020.

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