Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 132: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the consultants hired for the PICNIC GMS(P)B project; the amount paid to date in 2005; if the project is complete; the results of the evaluation of the project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38556/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Health Service Executive, HSE, has indicated that the Professionals and Citizens Network for Integrated Care, PICNIC, project commenced in January 2000 and was co-ordinated during the first phase by the Danish Centre for Health Telematics and in the second phase by the General Medical Services (Payments) Board. The purpose of this EU research project was to develop common software components which could be used on a Europe-wide basis to support integrated health care.

The HSE has informed my Department that Integrity Consulting Partners Ltd., were retained initially by the GMS (Payments Board) to support the Irish contribution to the process. In late 2001, when the project was under review by the Commission, Ireland was requested to assume responsibility for overall co-ordination of the project and integrity consulting worked to provide project management and technical assistance to all members of the consortium across the project as a whole.

The project was completed in 2004 and the overall EU contribution was €3,511,015. Of the €274,000 expended on consultancy, €91,000 related to project management and €183,000 related to technical assistance across the project. The amount spent in 2005 in relation to the project totalled approximately €3,000 in relation to project closure administration tasks.

The project objectives included supporting the EU regions in the design and development of technology that would provide better integrated systems for health care. Such tools would be designed according to industry best practice in terms of systems integration, open architecture, shared benefit in terms of open source outputs and appropriate messaging standards.

The HSE has noted that, in Ireland, the designs and software components developed for use here have been used by the pharmacy systems vendors as the basis for the next generation of pharmacy systems and these enable much improved communication between community pharmacies and the Health Service Executive in the interests of providing a high quality service to the public.

The EU Project Review Report dated October 2003 concluded that the project had been successfully completed and that the deliverables were of good quality, that there was good use of existing internationally recognised standards and that there had been efficient project management. The EU Commission also noted that the deliverables on certification should be made widely available. I have asked the HSE to send a copy of the Project Review Report to the Deputy.