Mr. John Hennessy:

To be fair, the general practitioners in the main would only refer to a hospital if it is absolutely necessary. Where some risks occur is in the out-of-hours period. We have been putting in structured, out-of-hours general practitioner services. They are designed to try to prevent and reduce that element of referral into acute hospitals.

"Yes" is the answer to the Deputy's question. Incidentally, they would not just be reliant on GPs alone but would have supports in the form of practice nurses, therapists, community intervention teams and all of the supports that will enable GPs to refer to other services rather than just the emergency department.