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

I want to go back to the issue of the individual health identifier. In the context of innovation, a new system was devised during Covid. We were able to put an in-house system in place. There have been a number of questions from Members on the health identifier project already but I am interested in the role of the GP. I have come across some challenges recently. One GP surgery had to close overnight but that would not be unusual. I am sure that happens right across the State. The challenge there was that patients could not get access to their records. What role does the GP play in relation to adding and subtracting from a patient's medical records? Will our guests walk us through the system itself? How central is the role of the GP? I understand that elective and other hospitals would be adding to the records all of the time but what about the GP who is on the front line in relation to patient care? How important is the GP?