Dr. Brendan O'Shea:

I think this is really important because, for the reasons that the Senator has mentioned, there will be pressure to change the system and expand it or otherwise. We really need to understand what services are being delivered. Historically, the Irish health system has not been efficient at generating timely data in a manner that makes any kind of sense. People, Members of this House among them, will often struggle to get timely data in relation to a range of medical services. In most other health systems where it has been introduced, general practice is significantly involved. In Ireland, everything we do in general practice is electronically tracked. Every prescription, ECG, cervical smear, chronic disease management visit and every termination of pregnancy is tracked. All that automated data flows into the HSE. If the information technology that is evident in general practice but not in our hospital system is available, then we can be confident that we will be able to understand the numbers, the indications and the geography. It will be possible to identify areas of practice that are significantly at variance from the guidelines. This information would be available on a real-time basis so we can be confident on that basis that the information technology is in place and we can be confident in the system because we will have data to observe and analyse and we will have a system that will pick up any red flags if they emerge