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

I thank the Deputy. I acknowledge it is the case that patient safety is put at risk at times in our health service.

It is never possible to eliminate all patient safety risk, but we do try to reduce it to the lowest level possible. We have increased the number of staff in our health service very considerably - there are 6,000 more doctors, nurses and midwives working in our health service than was the case three years ago - and we are implementing bit by bit the safe staffing mix, which is really important. I do not think putting it in legislation would make it any easier, though. Ultimately, it is a case of being able to find adequate numbers of suitably trained staff in an economy that is at full employment in a very competitive global market. Putting that into law does not make that any easier or change it, unfortunately.

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