Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will have to revert to you with that, Chairman. In relation to primary care, we will look at it in two ways this year. I am hopeful that through the waiting list initiatives for 2018 we should pick a number of pilot projects to carry out procedures in primary care that we currently do in the acute hospital sector. The one that comes to my mind and the one I wish to prioritise is the primary care eye review. To go back to our conversation about cataracts, the ophthalmologists are very confident that they can do a lot more in primary care and free up the space in acute hospitals. The clinical lead in that regard, Billy Power, has done really good work with the clinical community. We can see some additional work done there through the waiting list funding available to me in 2018. I am holding back within the Department a budget of €25 million for new primary care initiatives during 2018 and I will detail them as part of the service plan.