Mr. Chris Macey:

It is across all specialties. There are around 16 different specialities that go into delivering stroke care. There are consultants, nurses, physios, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, etc. The key to reducing death and disability in a stroke unit is having all that expertise in one dedicated space. We just do not have that at the moment. The information I am getting is that stroke units around the country are under huge pressure. Not funding the strategy is a false economy, basically. We did research with the ESRI in 2010 that showed that out of the direct cost of stroke to the economy of up to €557 million, €414 million was being spent on keeping around 5,000 people in nursing homes. Less than €7 million was being spent on the community rehabilitation services that can keep people out of long-term care. We have a situation where there is plenty of money being spent on stroke, but it is not being spent in the right places. Essentially, the system is waiting until after it can help people before spending large amounts of money on them. That just does not make any sense to us.

On the Senator's question on the broader cardiovascular plan, I might refer to Ms Reilly.