Question from Deputy Seán Crowe:

With regard to reconfiguration and acute hospitals, there is in Tallaght an adult and children’s accident and emergency unit. The unit in Tallaght is probably the busiest in the country and I believe it had 77,000 admissions last year. One of the problems with adult accident and emergency departments is a lack of beds and this is causing many of the bottlenecks in the hospital system.  With regard to the service for children, current policy means that on the south side of Dublin we will be left with no beds for sick children.  Will this be part of the review process?  It is daft that sick children will not have overnight beds on the south side of Dublin.

Answer Deputy James Reilly:

To answer the latter question first, the review relates to the provision of the new hospital at the Mater Hospital.  I do not think it will include the present situation at Tallaght Hospital. With regard to adult services, I am loth to give an answer to the question without having studied the situation.  There may be a bed capacity issue, however there are also managerial issues at Tallaght Hospital which must be addressed and this is what is being examined at present.  As in several of our major hospitals, issues arise on how discharges happen, how patients are assessed, how long patients are in hospital before their procedures are carried out and how long they remain in hospital after the procedure has been carried out.  There is a host of issues around this.  I will leave the door open on this as I do not have the answer for the Deputy on whether the problem in Tallaght Hospital has to do with bed capacity or use of the beds, or issues to do with management, as I know issues arise with regard to this.