Professor Orla Hardiman:

The issue of how we might develop neurological care in Ireland is very much a work in progress within the group that I lead in the clinical design or clinical leads programme. We have identified ten hubs for neurological care. Five of these are in Dublin, at Beaumont Hospital, the Mater, St. James's, Tallaght and St. Vincent's. From a regional point of view, there is the South/South West Hospital group in the Cork and Kerry region, the Waterford-Kilkenny region, the Galway region, Sligo and the north west, and Limerick. There are different levels of maturity in terms of the delivery of services and the integration of multidisciplinary care within these regions. Probably the best developed are in the Dublin areas and the least well developed are in the north west and the south east. I refer to Galway and Sligo. There is very significant unmet need north of Sligo, in the Letterkenny-Donegal region. That whole western part of the country is very poorly served at the moment.