Unused hospital beds in Galway and Clifden
McCormack asked why beds were empty at St. Francis Private Hospital and St. Anne’s Home. The Taoiseach discussed staffing and the lengthy process for hospital developments, and said he would seek an update on Leopardstown’s plans.
Why are beds empty in St. Francis Private Hospital in Galway and St. Anne's Home in Clifden?
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The Deputy will not be leader for another few weeks.
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Deputy Johnny Brady should go easy. We are watching him.
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There has been an increase of almost 45,000 staff in recent years in the health service.
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In a short number of years, there has been an increase of 30,000 staff and many of those people have gone into dedicated sectors.
As to why it takes so long, as Deputy Kenny knows, a lot of the difficulties lie in the fact that it takes a long time from an approval being given by the Department of Health and Children or the HSE and the appointment of a design team to going through the stages of development and undertaking construction. There are procedures in our public capital programme that we have tightened down in recent years because people were always concerned about what abuse might exist. One of the reasons we wanted to move on the issue of campus beds, to get more beds in and make more space, was for that reason, because it would greatly speed up matters.
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The Government should use the ones it has.
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The reality is that any major development from start to finish takes seven or eight years. That is the lifespan involved. There is also incessant demand. Even when one improves the facilities to cater for the numbers that one wants, people come back and look for far more additional staff to do the same work in a new building. That has its own difficulties and delays. It has delayed and continues to delay a number of projects. I have raised with the trade unions and others the matter of avoiding those problems. There is also the cost that accrues over a long period.
In all our acute hospitals there is a huge capital budget today as compared to five years ago and that budget is improving wards, outpatient facilities and accident and emergency units.
Comment on this
In practically every part of the country we are seeing new facilities. Leopardstown has its own development plan and is going through its own phases with the HSE and the Department of Health and Children to try to get its plan. I will get an update on how that stands.
From the Government's point of view, in this year's capital programme, even in tougher times, we are pushing ahead with the staff numbers and staff approvals in the areas that require them and we will continue to do that.