Mr. Joseph Musgrave:

The HSE hires a large number of staff in rural areas and does not provide a lot of care in Dublin. That is partly due to the way services are commissioned and incentivised by the HSE. In terms of my group, about 60% of a total membership of 70 provide care in Dublin. The way services are designed to be commissioned means the HSE does not take on a lot of the Dublin work. Also, there is no time for my members to cherrypick as they are given only a few minutes notification about a package. Each case is relatively anonymous because one gets only a brief profile. I would push back on the accusation of cherrypicking mainly because providers do not have the time.

In terms of the deeper point, when these interventions happen or when a package is awarded, it is usually as a result of a failure in the primary care system.