Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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720. To ask the Minister for Health the amount that has been spent on e-health by his Department since he became Minister. [23794/21]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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721. To ask the Minister for Health the amount that has been spent on e-health by the HSE since he became Minister. [23795/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 720 and 721 together.

As the Deputy is aware, my Department incurs no direct expenditure on eHealth but provide the funding for eHealth via the capital section of the annual service plan to the HSE, who have operational responsibility for delivery of eHealth and ICT solutions and services across the health service. This remit includes the delivery of eHealth programmes and the refreshing of ICT technology and infrastructure (to maintain performance and protect from cyber attack) where it is needed to support patient care, the Sláintecare reform programme and the eHealth strategy.

Since I assumed office as Minister for Health on 27th June 2020, the total ICT capital expenditure by the HSE on eHealth to April 2021 was €99.6 million. Investment in eHealth and ICT proved to be a critical enabler for the health system as it responded to the pandemic during this period. As well as funding eHealth projects and infrastructure refresh, this money funded important work on Covid-specific eHealth projects such as the COVID Care Tracker, the Covid Contact Tracing APP, telehealth consultations, on line referrals for Covid Testing, electronic transfer of prescriptions in the community for all GP surgeries and pharmacies, the Covid data Lake, business intelligence and data analytics capabilities that supported the collection and reporting of Covid statistics.

The continued investment in eHealth and ICT infrastructure will progress the digitisation of health care services to improve patient experience and care pathways and deliver integrated care.