Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On improving healthcare in our regions and communities, we all agree we need to divert more people away from hospital care to a community and home setting. A number of committee members were contacted by, for example, Thrombosis Ireland representatives who raised the issue of people on anticoagulants. They said 700 people are using self-test monitors, while almost 250,000 people throughout the State use warfarin. The point they made was that quality of life would be improved and enhanced greatly, and future complications could potentially be avoided, with a minor enough outlay for self-testing in the same manner as people with diabetes. The question they asked was whether there were any plans to increase the availability and use of CoaguChek meters and self-test strips for people who are on this drug.

This also raises another question relating to regionalisation. Who makes a decision on that? Could a region make a decision as regards a new technology or whatever? Will there still be a centralised approach to that? I am asking the question in general but, specifically on this issue, it seems a logical approach. We are all aware of how this form of testing works for people with diabetes. It seems a logical step forward to use these self-monitoring strips and so on.