Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A very large amount of money, €443 million, has been allocated. The figure for this year is €350 million, while there was a lower figure in quarter 4 of last year. All of this is beginning to accelerate and provide improvements for patients. Of the €443 million for next year, €123 million is recurrent funding being sought to improve and speed up various patient pathways. Dr. Colm Henry, the chief clinical officer, is taking the lead on those.

There is €240 million to continue tackling the waiting list backlogs. This includes funding for the NTPF and it is making very good progress. There will be additional and one-off funding for the HSE to use across the country.

Part of the remaining €80 million will be used to ensure access to the diagnostics scheme increases. This has been a really successful scheme. Last year, we allocated €25 million. It was the first time GPs had direct access to diagnostics for their patients. We got very positive feedback from GPs. I think 138,000 scans were done with that €25 million. This year, we have increased the allocation to €35 million. My understanding is that we will exceed 200,000 scans this year, again keeping pressure off hospitals and emergency departments. The figure will increase to €47 million next year so in two years, we will have gone from zero to €25 million to €35 million and then €47 million. This gives a sense of the scale of the money and how it is being deployed.

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