Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Since I came into this office, the 2005 and 2006 figures have been received. I have also received information on the 2007 interim data set and the section 8 reports arising from it. I have a commitment from the HSE that it will have the information published before the end of this year, which means the next few days. Furthermore, the HSE has committed to having the 2008 figures by April or May of 2009. The time lag referred to in my earlier response is a legacy or carryover from the old health boards and the difficulty presented in gathering the information.

We are moving towards a knowledge management strategy so we can standardise issues such as referrals and so we can, at any time, provide ourselves with an X-ray of what is happening on a contemporaneous basis, rather than having to hang around to collate the figures as we have done for so long. Therefore, we are making incremental progress on the issue, but I do not claim it is perfect. We do not have the up-to-date figures I would like to have, but over the past six months I have met the HSE on a monthly basis. One of the key issues has been to get on top of this issue so that we will be able to make proper assessments of where gaps and duplications exist in order to apply resources properly in this important area.

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