John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I had 12 questions but I will put the rest of them in writing as I am trying to prioritise one question. I thank both witnesses. In my experience on the health committee, they are the most progressive pair of witnesses leading their teams in here.

Despite what people say, clearly there are challenges but there has been a lot of progress. I am particularly interested in the digital aspect, as the Secretary General is aware.

I wish to say the following to Mr. Gloster. I have availed of the Swiftcare model a few times and found it exceptional. If one ran some numbers, one would discover the amount of overcrowding it prevents in emergency departments. I do not know if the HSE has ever run figures on it. He said there is a kind of HSE model of it but one never hears people talk about it. I used to think that part of the primary care model was to replicate some of that but, clearly, it is not. Does Mr. Gloster ever think about replicating it? I ask that because, in the context of the emergency departments piece, notwithstanding that positive impacts have been made, we should not leave it exclusively up to the private sector or even buying time in some of these spaces to relieve it. I have more questions but I will put them in writing.