David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The cancellation of hospital appointments and scheduled care is not sustainable. It now happens routinely. Covid has exacerbated the problem but it happened long before it for which there are a number of reasons. Obviously there is the lack of capacity, as the Minister mentioned, in terms of ICU. There is a lack of recovery beds so surgeries cannot be scheduled. There is a lack of specialist staff, as the Minister mentioned. Finally, there is a lack of stepdown beds in the community.

I wish to raise an issue with the Minister that was raised with me in Letterkenny recently when I met representatives of the Lifford Hospital Campaign Group. It is a community hospital that provided long-stay beds. HIQA advised that the hospital be closed temporarily and it is still closed. My understanding is that the HSE may have funding to provide for short-stay beds, which would a great use of the hospital. I do not presume that the Minister has the information to hand and ask him to provide me with a detailed note on exactly how much funding will be provided to the community hospital and give a timeframe for delivery. It is crucial that we get all of these elements right. There are many reasons treatments and care are cancelled. Some of it is because of capacity and late discharges in hospitals, and the reason for that is that there are not enough stepdown beds.

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