Dr. Austin O'Carroll:

I thank Deputy Shortall and the Chairman. The issue is that certain populations that are prone to hepatitis C, such as people who use drugs, traditionally tend to avoid mainstream services. For example, I had 40 people in my clinic for homeless people who needed treatment for hepatitis C. I referred 40, but 23 missed their first appointment and 16 missed their second appointment and we ended up only getting three treated. We set up a shared care programme with the Mater hospital - this was before GPs were being allowed to treat. We brought the treatment to the clinic using a hepatitis C nurse and we actually got all those 40 people treated on site.

Since then, GPs have been allowed to prescribe and we are able to do that prescription ourselves. It means that instead of referring people who come into hospital, as they are unlikely to get the hospital appointment letter in the first place, they do not keep regular lives and they do not tend to keep appointments, we can get them on the treatment then and there, get their bloods done, get their tests done and get the treatment prescribed in the pharmacy. If they are on other medication, such as opiate substitution treatment, we can get it prescribed with that. It is much more efficient in getting to a group who tend to avoid secondary care. Does that answer the Deputy's question?