Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 73: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the extent to which adequate nursing and medical staff is available throughout the public and private hospital sectors; the extent to which the facilities in either sector are currently in abeyance or for whatever reason not functioning; if closure of wards or beds particularly affects the public and private sector to a lesser or greater extent; the action he will take to address issues arising; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13402/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The National Service Plan 2011 commits the HSE, within the limits of its Voted allocation of €13.456bn, to delivering activity levels for 2011 which are broadly in line with 2010 levels. This is being facilitated by the continued pursuit of improved efficiency in the way acute hospital services are delivered. In particular, the focus is on reducing inpatient care activity levels through the provision of more appropriate service responses, delivering a shift to care on a day case basis where appropriate, and on performance improvements such as surgery on the day of admission and reducing inappropriate lengths of stay. Specific targets under these headings are included in the HSE's 2011 National Service Plan.

In order to maintain tight control on the cost of providing public services while protecting front-line services as far as possible, the 2011-2014 Employment Control Framework for the health sector is designed to reduce the numbers of management and administrative staff and non-frontline staff employed. The Framework obliges the HSE to achieve specified annual reductions in numbers.

The Framework also allows the redeployment of staff from the Hospital and HSE Corporate settings to the Primary Community and Continuing Care settings, to facilitate the development of integrated health care. However in this context the Framework allows for the targeted growth of certain grades which are exempt from the moratorium on recruitment (including Medical Consultants, Physiotherapists and Advanced Nurse Practitioner/Clinical Nurse Specialists). It also provides for the filling of non-exempted posts on exceptional grounds in order to maintain essential services and to meet priority service change/reorganisation requirements.

The information I have provided to the Deputy refers only to the public health system. My Department does not have a role to play in relation to staffing levels in the private sector; therefore I am not in a position to comment on private hospital staffing levels or services in this regard.