Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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177. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the €50 million allocated to acute services as outlined in budget 2018; the amount has been spent; the way in which the money has been spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27229/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In Budget 2018, €50 million was allocated to improve access to scheduled and unscheduled care services and this is the funding that I understand the Deputy is referring to in his question.

I can confirm that €40 million of this funding was allocated to implement measures aimed at alleviating pressure in our Acute Hospitals over the winter period and €10 million was allocated to improve access to scheduled care in the area of orthopaedic services and scoliosis.  Between January and June 2018, over €38 million of this funding was released to the HSE.

This funding has been spent on a range of measures this winter, including the opening of new bed capacity in Drogheda, Limerick, Kilkenny, Cork and the provision of home support packages and transitional care beds to support the timely discharge of patients from hospital.

This funding has also supported the treatment of young patients with scoliosis under the 2018 Scoliosis Action Plan.