Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

Unlike Deputy Cowley, I am a full-time politician totally devoted to health reform. In addition to his parliamentary role, the Deputy is a practising GP with a large practice in the west. If he does not mind me saying so, he sometimes confuses those two roles. I am sure what he is saying will sound great on local radio tomorrow but the reality is that this country's increase in expenditure on health care in the last ten years, including in the western region, has been greater than that of any country in the developed world.

It is also the reality, however, that there are deficiencies and problems. One of the tasks I have assigned to the HSE is to look at innovative solutions to these difficulties. There may well be different ways of providing patients with their necessary treatments either closer to home, by means of doctors attending centres closer to where patients live on an outreach basis, or through the provision of modes of transport other than ambulances. In most countries ambulances are used only where they are necessary and there may be other modes of transport more suitable in the situations to which the Deputy refers. Other forms of transport are already in use in some areas.

Our priority is to ensure services are available as closely as possible to patients' homes so long as this can be done without compromising the high quality of provision for patient safety. If a person is obliged to make a round trip of 220 miles for a check-up, even on an annual basis, we should explore whether there is a better way of proceeding.

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