The immediate benefits of the strategy are evident and include: reduction in emergency call to treatment times; regional self-sufficiency for non-invasive diagnostic procedures; the development of chest pain clinics and cardiac rehabilitation; an almost 200% increase in certain cardiology procedures and a 24% reduction in the waiting list for cardiology procedures; and the increase in the numbers now being detected and treated with chronic heart failure. To this can be added a rapidly expanding budget under the cardiovascular heading in the GMS, under which we are spending many millions of euro on products provided by the Statens Serum Institute, etc. This reflects the impact of the cardiovascular strategy on treatment and prescribing patterns of primary care, in particular, during the past three years. That is a significant and welcome development and it will mean better intervention and treatment and a consequential reduction in mortality rates.