Ms Anne Marie Hoey:

It would be useful to get the specific details of the incident that Deputy Durkan is describing. The hardship payment is done between the local health office and the primary care reimbursement service. I have not been working there for the past three years but, as I exited, the plan was to centralise the hardship payment in the primary care reimbursement service. I am not sure how much progress has been made in that regard. It certainly should not take 70 phone calls to resolve such an issue, so it would be useful if the Deputy could provide details. The matter can then be reviewed in the context of what arose.