Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will first say that the health system went through very tough times during Covid-19, as we all realise. I have long articulated my admiration for all those who worked on the front line during the various stages of Covid. We saw on our television screens the enormous challenges and pressures that Covid put on our health system. Our health system proved itself resilient in the face of an unprecedented pandemic. Over the past number of years since the start of the pandemic, we have dramatically increased the level of funding to our public health service and increased capacity significantly. Approximately 900 acute beds and about 340 community beds have been provided. The number of ICU beds has gone up from approximately 255 to about 306, which is a significant increase.

It will be a very challenging winter. We have watched what has happened in the aftermath of Covid in places like Australia and New Zealand. We did not have the flu for the past two years, essentially, as Covid was dominant. There is now a real prospect of the widespread spreading of flu and Covid-19 during the winter period. Therefore, vaccination is the first line of defence in terms of people's lives and their health. I urge people to get vaccinated, particularly those who are recommended, with both the Covid booster dose and the flu vaccine. I think the flu vaccine campaign will commence in early October.

We have also increased home support hours with about 20.5 million hours delivered in 2021. That was 2.9 million more hours than in 2020, a 17% increase, and there is a higher target for this year. There are issues in terms of home care teams with them having expanded so quickly and in such a significant way. That created a strain and pressure on home care teams.

There will be a winter plan, for which funding will be announced in tandem with the budget. The HSE task force is meeting on a daily basis to prepare for winter. It will be a challenging winter.

I point out that overall staffing numbers have increased by 15,000 in the past two years. That is the largest ever increase on record since the HSE was established. That figure includes 4,500 nurses and midwives, 2,300 health and social care professionals, and 1,400 doctors and dentists. The health service is recruiting at a level it has never recruited at before. That does not mean that there still are not challenges in the recruitment of key professionals. There are but everything will be done to make sure we support the health service in the coming winter.

See this speech in context