Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Ceann Comhairle back.

Today is the last day of national diabetes awareness month. I am the chairperson of the all-party Oireachtas committee on diabetes. The Taoiseach will be aware that my colleagues and I meet regularly with various organisations to discuss the issues facing people living with diabetes here in Ireland. Those same people are keen to see the expansion of digital health services, the delivery of care more effectively, the empowerment of patients to access their medical records and the provision of more services to patients in their homes and communities. They would like to see more investment in modern e-health and ICT infrastructure, in line with Project Ireland 2040 and the e-health strategy for Ireland. Significant progress on medical ICT infrastructure was made during the course of the pandemic, with GPs improving e-health measures and providing for the secure electronic sharing of patient information and lab results, etc. The electronic health record system, with its individual health identifier programme, is being rolled out within Children's Health Ireland and the initiative should be expanded across the HSE hospital network. Perhaps the Taoiseach could give an update on this area and raise the matter with the Minister for Health.

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