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

I cannot answer the Deputy's question specific to Belmullet hospital but I will ask the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, to correspond with her on that. There is no moratorium. We have 15,000 more health staff now than only a few years ago and we are recruiting all the time. Bed capacity is being increased. Three new hospitals are under construction in the country, one of which, the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire, has recently been completed, while new hospital wings have been built or completed all over the country, in Clonmel, Waterford and Limerick, for example. It might not be happening fast enough but it is happening and we will try to speed it up.

It should not all be about beds. I can understand why hospital consultants and people who work in hospitals will always say there should be more hospital beds but there is more to the health service than hospitals. Although when compared with many other countries, we have many fewer beds, it is interesting that when we are compared with countries such as Denmark or Sweden, where primary care is very advanced, we actually have more beds per head than they do, and a similar number to that of the UK National Health Service. It should never be simplified to that level; it is a very hospital-centric view of things.

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