Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will return to the strategic action plan and the lack thereof. A theme has arisen a number of times in our committee sessions. One of the enablers of change that the witnesses have outlined is an ICT system and working communication, if is not accurate to say "data sharing", with the HSE, which I assume is the largest issue. This has come up a number of times in the context of e-health records. There seems to be a lack of commitment and funding from the State to invest in a nationwide system. The witnesses might explain what such a system might look like. I presume it is envisaged that hospitals, primary healthcare centres and all of those places could communicate directly and in real time with pharmacies. Is that what it would look like? Representatives of the Prison Service were before the Joint Committee on Disability Matters. The Prison Service seems to have done an enormous amount of work and its representatives were describing something that is much more real time and effective in terms of access for the patients to their own information but also access to outside groups, such as pharmacists, sharing information and ensuring there is access to care at the right time, when people need it, in an accessible way. Will the witnesses outline what the system might look like if it were to be built around what their sector needs?