Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. This is something that Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan and I discussed when we met the neurorehabilitation advocates this morning in the audiovisual room. We have some really positive news on this matter.

In last year's budget, we started a significant roll-out of community-based neurorehabilitation services by providing for 23 neurorehabilitation nurses to begin with. New training and education places are being put in place.

On the Deputy's specific question about Cork, one of the two new teams that are being put in place will be in Cork University Hospital, CUH. It will be attached to the major trauma centre. This will be very useful in terms of continuity of care and integrated care. The new trauma centre will be a state-of-the-art facility. Our objective is to have multidisciplinary neurorehabilitation teams in all of the CHO areas. These will then be wrapped into the regional health areas as they come together.

What I want to say to Deputy Colm Burke and other Deputies - I know colleagues right across the House have a very strong interest in this - is what we are doing this year is just the start. We have had three teams in place for a while, and the 23 nurses who will come into post this year are important. However, this is only one step in the process. Our plan is that we will have proper community-based rehabilitation services in respect of a range of diseases such as multiple sclerosis, MS, Parkinson's and many others.

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