David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My time is limited. I will ask one more question and give the remainder of my time to Professor Keegan to answer it.

It is very important in the context of healthcare reform, Sláintecare and the establishment of regional health areas. We are getting a briefing today from the Department on the establishment of regional health areas. Professor Keegan's presentation was very interesting and timely. He said that the Sláintecare document clearly sets out what needs to be done but that the how and when are not so clear. He also spoke about challenges with regard to integrating care from a hospital-centric service and redesigning and integrating good community and primary care, which is what regional health areas are meant to do at a more global level. Professor Keegan then referred to the difficulty with having six distinct legal entities delivering care and the absence of a legislative framework. Part of the problem we might have is that these regional health areas will not be underpinned by legislation. They will not be a legal entity as it will continue to be the HSE board but that is a different debate. Will Professor Keegan outline the model of integrated care NERIECS has worked on, how it is working and how we can practically achieve the objective of moving from the current hospital-centric service to one that is much better integrated not only on the hospital side but also in community and primary care?