Mr. Gerry O'Dwyer:

On behalf of the executive, I compliment and thank the Chairman and the members for the work they did. I do not want to go back over issues raised by Professor Higgins, which have been answered comprehensively.

One of the issues is the focus for health in the future. The focus should be on ensuring that people are treated as close to home as possible. The focus of the HSE has consistently been to work with general practitioners and build up primary care centres. It aims also to work closely with the ambulance service to ensure we have a comprehensive service. Part of the roll-out of reconfiguration in west Cork was the advent in the area of a speedy response car. The effect of this has been that on a number of occasions an advance paramedic arrived, treated a patient and discharged the patient at the site or advised the patient to go elsewhere or called for back-up to remove the patient to hospital. This speedy response service has been provided while we have rolled out the reconfiguration in the south-west area.

The reconfiguration report feeds into a strategy which we must present to the Ministers in Q1 and Q2 next year. This will incorporate the three hospitals in the south east, Kilcreene Orthopaedic Hospital, University Hospital Waterford and South Tipperary General Hospital. Work has commenced on the strategy and there will be widespread consultation on it. Our chairman, Professor McCarthy, is adamant on that. This consultation will happen over the next 12 to 16 weeks, because we have a tight time frame on this.

On services, we are still in the process of completing the transfer of ophthalmology from CUH to the South Infirmary. Some construction is required to finish this, but it is in process. The paediatrics service is important to all of us. This needs to be centralised in Cork rather than leave it shared among the three hospitals that currently deliver it. Work is under way on that, phase one of the building project is under way and bids have been entered for phases 2, 2a and 3. Submissions are being made to the capital programme in that regard. The issue of site selection has been covered. A process must be gone through in that regard and it will be adhered to.

The role of the smaller hospitals, such as Mallow and Bantry, has been enhanced. We have a much safer sustainable service now, with good outreach from the centre. The figures show this. For example, approximately 15,000 people attended the local injuries unit set up in the St. Mary's Orthopaedic Hospital, run by the Mercy University Hospital, in 2014 and turn around time was noteworthy. In my view, the reconfiguration process is working and has worked. There is more work to be done and a decision must then be made in terms of where we go from here. We must incorporate the south-east component and there will be full and frank discussions with all parties on the strategy which we must present to the Minister in Q1 and Q2 of 2016.