Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I would like to go back to Mr. Reid or Mr. Watt on the key principles underlying this approach. Clearly, the objective is to have integrated care but we know that traditionally, the hospital sector has had all of the muscle and the lion's share of funding. There would be a downside for the hospitals if this is to be implemented in full. How is the HSE handling that from the point of view of the hospitals and the existing hospital groups? One main example of the integration is that there would no longer be the situation of delayed discharges with all of that expense being taken up with the hospital sector and no money in the community sector for home care. That is the typical kind of problem with the lack of integrated care. How is the HSE negotiating that at the moment? Has the HSE started talks with the hospital groups and with the individual hospitals?