Mr. Tony O'Brien:

Okay.

The HSE began its winter planning process earlier this year with a view to having the winter plans in place for every hospital by the end of September. The plans address capacity and escalation challenges at group and hospital levels to deal effectively with surge requirements. Additional funding of almost €10 million has been approved and will be provided by supplementary to support additional capacity in hospitals, palliative care and social care services. This is in addition to the €74 million that was approved earlier this year for delayed discharges.

Group CEOs are working to have the additional acute capacity in place during November in order to prepare effectively for the winter. This funding provides for an additional 300 beds compared with the equivalent period last year. In addition it is hoped to open beds that are closed for essential upgrades and for infection control purposes. As a result of these combined initiatives it is hoped to have 440 additional beds open during this the winter period.

The additional funding for social care of €74 million will ensure that the wait time of four weeks for fair deal is maintained and that additional transitional care and home care package services continue over the winter period. In the equivalent period in 2014, due to funding constraints, fair deal was 14 weeks.

Members will also be aware that I recently announced that I will chair the emergency departments, ED, task force implementation group. I have taken this step to ensure that all of the relevant parts of the health services are focused on optimising resources in order to deal with this long-standing and difficult problem. I am hopeful that my previous experience as COO of the special delivery unit, during the winter of 2011-2012, should assist the task force in overcoming the existing problems

I would like to say a word about primary care. Diabetes currently affects approximately 200,000 adults in Ireland, over 85% of whom have type 2 diabetes. Ongoing care of diabetic patients has traditionally been undertaken at hospital outpatient departments. This changes from this month with the introduction of a cycle of care for type 2 diabetic GMS patients involving two scheduled GP visits per annum for registered patients. This initiative is part of the ongoing review of the GMS contract, which has already brought extended access to GP care to children under six and adults over 70 in 2015. This current measure is a significant step forward in the management of chronic medical conditions in primary care and is expected to benefit approximately 70,000 patients.

This concludes my opening statement and together with my colleagues, I will endeavour to answer any questions the members may have.