Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

To return to savings, I have been approached by a number of people who have savings plans they have costed. One concerns haematological transplant procedures at Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin. Approximately 30 children require transplants every year. Our Lady's Hospital can provide 15 of these. The remaining 15 patients must go abroad but the cost is double that of providing the service at Our Lady's Hospital. The funding comes out of the treatment abroad scheme, which has a separate budget. The saving can be made but it is in a separate budgetary category. If somebody has an idea like that, is there a single point of contact in the HSE they can approach to discuss their idea in the same way as Senator Colm Burke's reference to GPs providing haemochromatosis services at a fraction of the cost of providing these services in hospital? How do people with ideas about savings make contact with the HSE?