Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 210: To ask the Minister for Health and Children when a service (details supplied) will be provided in an area. [9569/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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There is no statutory obligation on the Health Service Executive (HSE) to provide community physiotherapy services but arrangements have been made in some regions to provide such services. Before the establishment of the HSE, the nature of any arrangements for community physiotherapy services and the level of service provided were a matter for individual health boards. As a result, variation in practice developed over time. I understand that, in some areas, the HSE has made arrangements with private physiotherapists to provide services to medical card holders who have been referred by their General Practitioners. These arrangements will be reviewed in the context of the ongoing development of primary care services and the legislative proposals being prepared by my Department to clarify and update existing legislation on eligibility for health and personal social services, including physiotherapy services.

As the Health Service Executive has the operational and funding responsibility for Primary Care services, including physiotherapy services, it is the appropriate body to consider the particular matter raised by the Deputy. 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.