Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would challenge the idea that there is a crisis in consultant recruitment here. There simply is not. We have increased the consultant workforce by 1,000 during the lifetime of this Government and there are hundreds more consultant posts in train at the moment. In fact, the conversation I am having with the HSE at the moment is how we are going to fund the consultant posts, given how many are being hired and how quickly it is happening. We now have almost 2,000 consultants on the new public-only contract. I visited Sligo University Hospital in the last few days where I was told that the increase in consultant numbers in Sligo is making a huge difference. It is allowing them to drive down the number of patients on trolleys and the waiting lists. I was in Letterkenny University Hospital not that long ago, where again there has been a very significant increase in the consultant numbers.

We have to take the report seriously, and we do. The Deputy raised four issues, among them the consultant workforce expanding and the NCHD workforce expanding. We are investing in the facilities on the ground for our medical workforce through the NCHD task force. Specifically on Letterkenny and the others, I will ask the Department to come back with a detailed note as to the sites, the timing and the actions being taken first

See this speech in context