Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I was in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, last week and met with the senior clinical team, including the emergency department nursing and consultant staff. I fully agree the resources that are needed have not been in place for a long time. The Deputy will be aware I have sanctioned a doubling of the number of emergency medicine consultants in Drogheda. We have launched phase 2 of the safe staffing framework, which will increase the number of emergency nursing and healthcare assistant roles. We are also talking to the hospital about additional capacity and, arguably more importantly, providing more step-down facilities in order that patients, when they are ready to be discharged, can be taken to a suitable clinical setting, meaning there will be more capacity in the hospital and for emergency medicine.

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