Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I am the first to admit that all is not well in the health service. That is the reason we are involved in a massive programme of transformation in terms of how we do things and the way people work. Primary care is about bringing together under a new working arrangement existing health professionals who very often treat the same service users. I recently visited Ballymun health centre, with which I believe the Deputy is familiar, where I heard firsthand from a public health nurse that, as a result of the bringing together of all services in a physical building, she had been able to cut down by about half of one day a week the length of time she spent on the telephone speaking to colleagues, social workers and other professionals. This is about people working differently and together.

The Deputy will be aware - I believe he supported the proposal - that the infrastructure will in the main be provided by the private sector. There have been huge expressions of interest in the investment, which is worth approximately €1.5 billion. The HSE board has approved 150 different locations and contractual arrangements have been put in place in respect of 70 locations. Given this was only announced in the budget last year, it has been incredibly successful. This is not alone about buildings but about existing health professionals working together.

As I stated, we are moving to a situation whereby there will be recruitment this year of key therapists, who are not covered by the moratorium or the voluntary early retirement scheme.

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