There's a warning that the COVID-19 crisis means we're going to have to "rethink an awful lot of things" about our healthcare system.
Fianna Fáil's Stephen Donnelly says the impact on the rest of the healthcare system has been "absolutely enormous".
He was speaking following the first full meeting of the new Dáil COVID-19 committee.
Officials such as Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, HSE CEO Paul Reid and Department of Health Secretary-General Jim Breslin were among those who appeared before the committee.
Speaking on The Hard Shoulder, Deputy Donnelly said there were two main messages out of today's sitting.
He explained: “The focus to date has been very short-term - it’s what’s happening today, what’s happening next week, what’s happening in three weeks with the new phase.
“There was a bit more time today to say what’s happening in the next few months and years… the really stark message that came out of today was that we could be dealing with COVID-19 for a very long time.
“The second big message that came out of this for me was that both the short-term and the longer-term impact on the healthcare system - that’s the non-COVID work - is absolutely enormous. We’re going to have to rethink an awful lot of things."
The Fianna Fáil health spokesperson said the healthcare system was 'already in crisis' before the pandemic.
He said: "The idea that a system that was already under so much pressure is going to need more money to take longer to do less… the implications for patients are off the scale.
"We’ve got to start bringing all the stakeholders together.
"We need an agreed approach, and we’re going to need to innovate like we never have before in order to make sure the plane stays in the air… that the healthcare system keeps functioning."
The committee this afternoon also heard that the cost of building large projects like the National Children's Hospital could increase by as much as 40% while COVID-19 restrictions are in place.
Deputy Donnelly said the crisis is going to have an impact on all types of healthcare projects.
He told Ivan: “Not just the children’s hospital, but primary care centres… new hospitals… upgrades to existing hospitals… these things are going to take longer and they’re going to cost more money."
