I thank the Deputy for the question. I agree it is imperative that general practice has the capacity we need because we have big ambitions for GP services, particularly as we move to care in the community. In that regard, the number of GPs has increased by about 12% over the past ten years. We need to look at that per capita as well. The 2019 figures show that we are at 82 GPs per 100,000, which is slightly above the EU average of 80. My view, which I think the Deputy shares, is that we need to go further and use G…

The short answer is "Yes". The first thing we needed to do was to provide more GP training posts. The change here is very impressive. In 2009, we had 120 people entering GP training. In 2020, we had 233. Step one has seen a very significant increase in the trainee positions. I take the Deputy's point that there is no point training these amazing people to be GPs only to see them leave the country. I am aware that many trainees are saying that they do not want to work in the old ways, and that they do not want to se…

Yes, absolutely, if that is what is required and if that ultimately leads to better care for patients. I do not think we should rule anything out. In terms of the trainees, as I said we are up to 233 this year. Real progress has been made, which is very encouraging. There have been changes. Some of the changes include more flexible GMS contracts, sharing of GMS contracts and GPs allowed to hold GMS contracts for longer, now up to their 72nd birthday. More supports for rural GPs are being rolled out this year, inclu…

I thank the Deputy for his question. Many elected representatives are keenly involved in this issue, including the Ministers of State, Deputies Thomas Byrne and Damien English, and Senators-----

I can do.

---and Senators.

I thank the Deputy for the question. The point I am making is that this is a serious issue, which is very real for the local community. It is something that has been discussed with me by Oireachtas Members in opposition and obviously, in government as well. I am aware that the HSE initiated a process of planning for changes to the services at Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan. I am also acutely aware that any proposed changes to health services can be a source of great anxiety and worry for communities affected and for th…

It does.

I understand that this is a very serious issue for the local communities. My own community was involved in exactly this small hospital framework with regard to the hospital in Loughlinstown. Changes were made. I backed those changes from the Opposition and I will tell the Deputies why I did so. I and the other four elected representatives from the constituency met the senior clinical team and I asked them if it was their unanimous view that this would save lives. We were all told that this would save lives and the …

I again thank the Deputies. I am listening to them and to my Government colleagues very carefully. The debate we are having right now is an important one. I would expect nothing less. I want this debate to happen with the HSE management and the senior clinicians in the room because they need to answer these questions, not just from the Opposition but from the elected representatives of the community. I have been through this process in Wicklow and while ultimately Loughlinstown became a great success story, it was …

I agree with everything the Deputy just said. Therefore, where do we start? We start as a Parliament and a Government by saying that the waiting lists before Covid-19 arrived were completely unacceptable. They are higher now because of Covid-19 and a cyberattack. The current situation is completely unacceptable. We must, therefore, act. It is my absolute priority as Minister for Health and a priority for all Ministers of State in their respective areas. Right now, we have 760,000 patients on the acute hospital inpa…

Money is not the only answer but it is part of the answer because without money, this is not going to move. Next year, I have allocated a total of €350 million. The Deputy will be aware that I am appointing a ministerial task force to look at this issue. We are taking the learnings from the very successful vaccine task force and bringing them to bear. As the Deputy quite rightly said, we are going to do this differently. We are going to use all of the capacity we can, first of all within the HSE but then also withi…

If we are going to get this right and we have to get it right, we have to be able to identify exactly the kind of projects the Deputy has referenced. We have to replicate and scale them. All over the HSE, brilliant initiatives are happening. Tallaght hospital has been running advanced nurse practitioner-led community teams in various disciplines such as neurology and urology and the results are spectacular. I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure the Sligo model the Deputy mentioned is referenced in the programme for …

I thank the Deputy for the question. I acknowledge the scale of the challenge facing our emergency departments in what will be a difficult winter. We all appreciate that many of our front-line staff are exhausted from the effects of the last 19 months. I thank our emergency department staff throughout the country for their ongoing commitment and their work. It is accepted that acute bed capacity shortages in the mid-west are a contributor to overcrowding at the emergency department in University Hospital Limerick. …

I thank both Deputies. They have raised this issue with me and we are looking at it as a priority. Many resources have been invested in Limerick. For example, up to the end of August, University Hospital Limerick had an increase of over 340 staff compared with December of last year.

I appreciate that. I am not trying to brush that aside. I am saying that there has been significant investment in many of the things that are being looked for, including additional staff, additional beds, and as the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, said, additional home care for discharge. I fully accept and appreciate, and the HSE is aware, that more needs to be done. The hospital is following escalation procedures at the moment. The Deputies can rest assured that all additional requests for resources will be tak…

I am in the House today to introduce a resolution to extend the sunset clause of Part 2 of the Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021. The Act is due to expire on 9 October. The sunset clause of Part 2 provides that each House of the Oireachtas may, on or before 9 October, pass a resolution to continue Part 2 in operation for a period not exceeding three months. For the purpose of giving the House some background on this, Part 2 of the Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021 provides for the reopening of indoor hospitalit…

I thank colleagues for their comments, feedback and acknowledgement of what has been done in healthcare in the past year and a half. We all know that the healthcare system in Ireland, and I have been involved in healthcare systems abroad, is under constant attack and criticism. We all know that when things go wrong in healthcare, it is the most serious situation we can have. I know from my current role and my previous jobs that it can be very demoralising for those working in healthcare - in a department of health,…

I move: That Dáil Éireann resolves that Part 2 of the Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021 (No. 24 of 2021) shall continue in operation for the period beginning on the 10th day of October, 2021 and ending on the 9th day of January, 2022. The purpose of this motion is to extend the sunset clause of part 2 of the Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2021, which is due to expire on 9 October and which provides that each House of the Oireachtas may, on or before, 9 October 2021, pass a resolution to continue part 2 in operati…

That will be removed.