Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My apologies. I will undertake to examine to see if it is possible to analyse the public-private mix. That makes sense.

The Chairman is entirely correct that the first tranche of National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, funding was for largely low-complexity, high-volume day case procedures. That is not the full extent of the fund's work this year and it is looking at including complex orthopaedic procedures as well. It will be a mix of day cases and inpatient cases, including some quite complex procedures.

I am pleased to tell the committee that the cannabis access programme is going well in the sense that the expert group is working away diligently. It had another meeting either today or yesterday and is due to provide me with a report next month. I will be pleased to come back and discuss that with the committee at a time of its choosing.

On Sláintecare, the reason I slightly interrupted the speaker, for which I apologise, is that there is a remark being attributed to me of which no one can find any record whatsoever of me ever saying. That is quite frustrating because I say an awful lot of things on the record for people to attribute to me if they wish. As recently as last week, I also said on the record at the Committee on the Future of Healthcare that I believe that this is a once in a generation opportunity to get this right. It is good to see that the director general and I are on the same page on this issue. I never suggested that it is only about moving ahead what the Government thought was a good idea. I said it was encouraging to see that a number of things in Sláintecare are already things that have been identified by Government, but by the health service, if that makes sense. National standards such as the Healthy Ireland framework, the eHealth agenda and the new GP contract are items that are already under way. In addition to that, it is in relation to the new stuff that I am duty-bound as a Minister to come back with an implementation plan.

The challenge with voluntary care, to which I am happy to rise, is in the sequencing of change. If one had the funding and were to provide everybody with automatic entitlement to free GP care in the morning, one has to ask whether we would have the GPs to deal with it. As one increases entitlement one has to build capacity and if one does it with the wrong sequencing it will become an issue.

The second issue is funding. I accept the committee did some costings but it would also concede - with a degree of pride, I believe - that there is agreement on how we would fund it and there is agreement on how much it would cost. I am looking forward to going to Government with my views on an implementation plan before the summer recess. I am really committed to advancing this as it is a really honest, diligent effort by politicians not to be partisan with the health services but to lay the foundations for the future. There was an idea for urgent treatment centres and I will certainly reflect on that with colleagues in the Department.

Deputy O'Connell asked about HPV.