Mr. Val Moran:

We are in constant engagement with the HSE on it. We are working through the GP agreement as well. The chronic disease management, CDM, part of the GP agreement is being widened from January of this year to include all medical card patients over 18 years of age who have a chronic condition. That is a huge achievement. In fairness to the HSE, it has put a great deal into that as well, particularly in terms of IT support and rolling out that change. That will make a significant difference to patients’ lives and how they are managed within general practice. Hopefully, it will lessen the burden on the acute setting and reduce the number of acute presentations by people with these conditions. That is being worked through. There is also work taking place on community healthcare networks - these are groups of populations of 50,000 - to deliver care at that level and have a GP lead along with network manager.

All of that work is taking place but there is a wider issue of capacity that we need to start looking at. We want to engage with the HSE, the Department and the political system on that. These are some of the solutions we would see on that.