Dr. Diarmuid O'Shea:

In response to the Deputy, health prevention and promotion are critically important in everything we do. Growing up and growing old is not easy and habits which start when a person is young are very important. There is a huge public health message in what we are talking about, not just in the workplace but also in schools where the introduction of PE as a subject is welcome. Healthy Ireland is also doing very important things. Health promotion and prevention are very important parts in helping wellness in society as a whole and they are everybody's responsibility.

The Chairman asked about having one medical officer in nursing homes. There are the same challenges in hospitals where multiple teams go around multiple wards, but the level of discharge efficiency is improved if there are single teams on wards. Havomg a single medical officer in nursing homes would be beneficial, rather than having ten or 12 GPs. It would also provide a direct connection with outreach and inreach services. A national transfer letter is being looked at in the context of the older persons programme which would ensure decisions made about advance care plans and treatment levels would be documented and communicated when a person went back to a nursing home. It is a work in progress and there is a lot of work to be done, both from the point of view of contracts and with GPs.