Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important point relating to Letterkenny general hospital. He asked about an implementation group to make sure the resourcing that is required there will be put in place, and I will certainly raise that matter directly with the Minister for Health and relay that to him. It is important we look at the overall context of where we are with health delivery and with regard to resourcing our health service. The Deputy will know that this year, we have a health budget of just short of €23 billion, an increase of €7.7 billion from 2019, and that has seen a very significant impact on the achievements Ireland has made in health outcomes across the country. Life expectancy is above 82 and our mortality rate fell by 10% in just over one decade, and all across the health service we are looking at additional resources that are needed and are being put in place. A total of 28,480 more staff are working in our health service than there were at the beginning of 2020. There are 9,600 additional nurses, 4,200 health and social care professionals and more than 3,000 new doctors, and about 45% of consultant contracts now are the new public health contracts where consultants have signed up to them.

The Deputy has raised in some detail some of the challenges in Letterkenny general hospital and other model 3 hospitals. We want to make sure our health system is resourced across the Twenty-six Counties of the Republic. Funding this year has been made available for an additional 3,000 staff and the HSE has been instructed to start hiring those staff. The Deputy has briefly outlined some of the deficiencies with regard to staffing in Letterkenny, and I am quite happy to bring those matters directly to the Minister for Health. We are recruiting an additional 3,000 staff this year and we have done many other things to help patients, such as removing inpatient hospital charges and carrying out the biggest expansion of access to GP care, which is really important in order that people can get health services at the initial point through their GPs. Up to 60% of our population are now eligible for GP cards or medical cards. We have also reduced the threshold of the drug payment scheme. With regard to health, we are investing more than ever and we are getting better health outcomes. There is certainly more to be done in that space, but we have got approval for 3,000 additional staff this year and we have instructed the HSE to do that. On the specific matters the Deputy has raised with regard to Letterkenny general hospital, I am quite happy to raise them directly with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly.

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