Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I again thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber with a logical answer to an important question. Of course, Covid has been a problem and much healthcare ended up being stalled because of it. Progress, and the incremental progress we like to see, has been challenged. The problem with Shannondoc is that on many occasions there has been no cover. That was simply down to the fact that GPs could not be got and were not available, as was the case for locums and so on. That is always a problem because the public need to have confidence that once GPs sign off on their practices, surgeries and so on, the Shannondoc out-of-hours co-operative service will kick in.

A review is good, and it should happen because it will consider the lessons where things have been done right and identify the gaps where improvements can be made. I see a review as positive and a way of incrementally improving the service as opposed to anything negative, or something the HSE or those in the services should be concerned about.