Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and also for the questions and for having me.

Deputy Crowe is correct as to the need to geo-align our community healthcare organisations with our hospital group settings. Deputy Harty pointed out that it nearly happens in the UL hospital group, but for the rest of the areas we have CHOs that straddle a number of hospital groups or vice versa. We have launched a consultation on geo-alignment, I believe the details are still on my Department's website. We have received over 2,500 submissions so far, in terms of how people - including people working in the health service - feel how best to align those groups. There are a lot of issues. I would like to see, as is envisaged in the Sláintecare report, a regional entity which has the whole spectrum of care within one structure, and not a situation where one has the left hand doing acute hospital care, and everything else on the right hand.

On the issue of respite care, if the Deputy would not mind providing us with the details of that case offline, I will get my officials to look at it, not just as an example of an individual case but also as to how the system needs to show a bit of common sense as well.