Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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1974. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the recommendation contained in the 2018 report, A Trauma Service for Ireland, for a comprehensive fracture liaison service to provide high quality, evidence-based care to those who suffer a fragility fracture; when he expects the service to be fully functioning; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36037/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this Parliamentary Question relates to an operational issue, it is a matter for the HSE. However, members of the Oireachtas are advised that the HSE is currently unable to access the information to answer Parliamentary Questions due to the recent cyber-attack, which has required a temporary shut-down of HSE IT systems. The disruption to service is on-going, and the HSE is working hard to restore its IT capacity and resume normal services. Members of the Oireachtas will be advised as soon as the HSE is again in a position to provide responses to PQs and are encouraged to resubmit their Parliamentary Questions at that point.

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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1975. To ask the Minister for Health if he will continue in 2022, the initiative announced in January 2021 to make available to general practitioners increased direct access to diagnostic services, such as X-Rays, CT scans, MRIs, and DEXA; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36038/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In Budget 2021, a significant investment of €25m was allocated to implement an expanded programme of structured access to diagnostics services for GPs. The aim of this initiative is to address the situation whereby patients can be inappropriately referred to hospital Emergency or Outpatient Departments to access diagnostics, thus exacerbating ED overcrowding or necessitating excessive waiting times for patients to access the required scans.

The GP Access to Diagnostics programme was successfully launched in January of this year. As of the most recently available data from the HSE in early May, there had been a total of 22,051 scans of various modalities provided, with almost 70% of these being MRI scans. The very latest information on the scheme is unfortunately not available due to the ongoing effects of the recent cyber-attack on the HSE’s ICT systems. However, the number of scans and tests which have been provided at this date can expected to be significantly higher than the May figures, particularly as the service is currently available to the full population

My Department and the HSE will review this programme in context of the Estimates process for 2022, but it is clear that improved access to diagnostics in primary care settings is a crucial part of Sláintecare reform. I wish to assure the Deputy that I certainly anticipate that I will be in a position to support the continuation of this initiative, which has been widely welcomed by GPs and has already benefitted many thousands of individual patients.