Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 120: To ask the Minister for Health and Children when the personal health check promised in the Programme for Government will be rolled out. [9322/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Programme for Government contains a commitment to the development of a freely available and personalised national programme to provide for the prevention and early detection of illnesses for both men and women.

The Programme intends that guidelines should be developed for the Personal Health Check based on best available national and international evidence of what works well, with structured call and recall arrangements during a person's life and provision for appropriate clinical follow-up where required.

My Department is at present examining a range of issues which need to be addressed in order to decide how best to proceed in relation to this commitment, in the context of international best practice, our own national health policy and the many competing priorities for health service development. Among the issues to be considered for a Personal Health Check Programme are: whether whole age cohorts of the population should be offered, or encouraged to have, a periodic health check or whether a more targeted approach is preferable; the appropriate clinical content of a personal check and the interval between checks, according to individuals' age, gender and relevant risk factors; the appropriate degree of State involvement in any programme and the organisational issues which would arise; direct and indirect cost issues.