I want to raise again the mess that is University Hospital Limerick. This morning, day surgeries were cancelled in Ennis because no patients arrived. It appears that nobody told the surgical team though.

The urology surgical team, anaesthetists and nurses were all waiting for patients but none arrived. It seems to be an incredibly bad use of scarce resources. It is not unique, unfortunately. During the Covid pandemic the hospital at Ennis had many more cancellations of services than happened at Nenagh, St. John's or University Hospital Limerick. University Hospital Limerick should not be a surprise but the other should be on a par with Ennis. The most recent figures that I got for early 2022 equally show that the hospital in Ennis is less utilised. At least the Taoiseach visited Limerick unlike his predecessor and he has an interest in the matter, but an interest is not enough. Will he come to Ennis to see the solutions the hospital offers in the short term in terms of an increase in the local injuries unit capacity, the medical assessment unit capacity and in the longer term an increase in the capacity for day surgery it can offer for the UL Hospitals Group? More importantly, will he make sure that the hospital at Ennis is adequately utilised and not disregarded in the fashion it is today as regularly?

I do not know exactly what happened in Ennis today, why surgery was cancelled and why the surgical team was not informed. They would usually be the first to know in my experience in the health service, but that may not always be the case. I definitely agree with the Deputy that part of the solution to the problems experienced in University Hospital Limerick is the greater use of the hospitals in Ennis and Nenagh. That is happening to an extent but not to the extent that I would like to see. I look forward to visiting the hospital again as soon as I can.