Mr. John Hennessy:

My colleague Mr. O'Dowd will talk about the distance coding and the rural practice supports, as raised by members. It is probably no harm to mention that the policy of the HSE is very clearly to support general practice and the development of primary care, particularly in rural areas, and to maintain and sustain that service and the choice for the public in that regard. We are certainly open to creative measures that would help to support that. The GP out-of-hours service is an example of an initiative introduced in recent years that may need to be reviewed in terms of how it is supporting the agenda. Laboratory and sample collection systems are now up and running in many rural areas. They can be part of the practical supports that can be put in place to sustain general practice. In this regard, I refer also to the transport issues that Mr. Hayes mentioned.

The enabling capacity of new technology should be explored at every level in regard to maintaining and sustaining services in rural areas. Communications has a particular role to play. Our ICT programme may represent an issue that could be the subject of a further meeting with this committee at some point. I am sure our colleagues within the HSE will be very happy to facilitate that. We have also put in extra support staff for chronic illness management. In the past two to three years, in particular, we have invested some considerable money in chronic disease management and diabetes care. Perhaps Mr. O'Dowd has some points to make on the rural practice supports.