Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to reiterate that the Government, along with the Department of Health is committed to addressing workforce challenges across the health services to meet the growing needs of the population. We also need to make sure that sustainability model is in place when we look at rural areas. Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, this Government has overseen the largest ever expansion of our healthcare workforce. At present, there are almost 18,000 additional whole-time equivalents working in our health service than there were at the beginning of 2020. This is a significant increase of 15%. The number of NCHDs employed has also increased by 18% in the same period. This ongoing growth has supported service delivery and delivered reductions in the overall working time of the NCHDs. It is recognised that in order to make sites like Bantry more attractive, training opportunities need to be enhanced, and the HSE is committed to increasing the overall number of training posts and to providing enhanced training to the NCHDs who are not occupying recognised training posts in sites such as Bantry. The Minister and the Department of Health remain committed to addressing these challenges and delivering the best possible care for the people of the south-west. That is a priority for this Government.