Fianna Fáil has said it will spend an extra €2 billion on the health service on top of normal increases, as well as recruiting thousands of additional staff, if elected. At the launch of its health proposals on Monday, the party promised to recruit an additional 800 to 1,000 consultants and 4,000 more nurses. The health service is in the throes of a “full-blown crisis”, health spokesman Stephen Donnelly told the briefing, with more than one million people on a public waiting list. He later clarified Fianna Fáil “don’t want to see any private work in public hospitals” but this will take time to do and will be expensive. Asked where savings could be made in the health service, Mr Donnelly said the “big opportunity” arose from the planned move to new regional structures.

Source: The Irish Times January 20, 2020 15:11 UTC