James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am afraid I must say to the Senator that it is broken and that is why it must be fixed. The Senator's party might say that the budget is broken, but it is not, but I am not trying to score points here. The bottom line is that the health service is not delivering the level of care it should and could do with the resources at its disposal. It has always been a mystery to me that this is the case, given that we have some of the best doctors, nurses and managers in the world in our health service. Clearly, what is needed is a reorganisation of the system to make it a service for patients, which is the core of this. That is the outcome we seek. We want to see better outcomes for patients. As I have said on the record a number of times, we must look at outcomes, not inputs. If we do not improve the journey or the outcome for the patient then we are not doing anything that is worthwhile. The setting up of hospital groups will seriously improve things and I accept and acknowledge the Senator's support for the concept. It will address a whole raft of issues concerning recruitment, retention of expertise, sharing of expertise and particularly, having patients at the lowest levels of complexity treated as close to home as possible.

I hope I have clarified the position. I will continue to listen to what those who work in hospitals and, most importantly, use hospitals have to say.