Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Okay. The Minister is talking about a plan to 2030. It is very spread out. The best example I can give about Cork is if people go into Cork University Hospital, CUH, they will get a paper file. If they were to end up in the Mercy hospital 12 months later, they will then get a paper file there. If they were to be in the South Infirmary two years later again, another paper file will be created for them. It is just so difficult for medical practitioners to find out exactly what is the medical history of a patient whereas with a computerised system, all the information could be retrieved by pressing a button. I know there is a lot of work involved in achieving that ability, but is there any way we can shorten the timeline of this implementation of computerisation? I know there is no point in thinking in the short term and then not achieving anything. This undertaking is something we must prioritise, though, because in Denmark and all the other European countries major savings are made by having an e-health system. Significant savings were made in staff time and other efficiencies. This is, then, something we really need to prioritise.