Mr. Derek Tierney:

The national shared care record will link into what we call the national integrated medical imaging system, NIMIS, which is our national imaging database. GPs will have immediate access to a person's images and diagnostics once we deploy our national shared care record.

Going back to the Deputy's previous question about how long it takes to roll out an electronic health record, as Deputy Cullinane pointed out, the North has been successful in this regard, but that was on the basis of an eight-year programme. These things take time, particularly as we have to standardise work practices and workflows and then digitise the information using an electronic technology platform. We are under no illusion; this takes time and effort and commensurate funding That is where we are at the moment.