Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 415: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her views on whether the territory covered by the Westdoc services with regard to the out-of-hours general practitioner service in the north Galway, Castlerea and Mayo area is too expansive; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the general practitioner is supposed to be supported by a second on-call general practitioner from each of the three cells that comprise the overall service area; her further views on whether smaller cells would be likely to provide a far better service; if she will provide funding to the Westdoc scheme to enable this to happen; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25605/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, my Department has requested the parliamentary affairs division of the executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.

Since the first out-of-hours co-operative began in 2000, in excess of €104 million has been provided by my Department to allow their development. The Health Service Executive, western area — formerly the Western Health Board — has received over €11 million in respect of general practitioner out-of-hours co-operatives between 2000 and 2005. These funds do not include fees paid to participating general practitioners for attending patient calls.