I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this motion, which we fully support. It is an issue we all deal with every single day. For most people, their GP is the first port of call when they have illness in their family. However, GP practices are struggling to deal with demand. We have situations where people have to plan to be sick before they can get an appointment. The primary healthcare system has to support quality, scheduled and urgent access to clinicians in order that patients and their families can build a trusting relationship with their GPs. However, the policy implemented by the Government has broken down these relationships over the years. We have people who become eligible for medical cards because of their advanced age being removed from their GP practice list because the quota has been reached. Then, at 66 or 67 years of age, they have to look for a new GP to sign up with. They are finding that difficult because all of the GP practices are oversubscribed. I am dealing with an 85-year-old man from Swords who requires blood tests every two months. The next fasting appointment he can get is in Beaumont Hospital to which he would have to take two buses while fasting. His second option is the Mater Hospital, which would require him to take one bus. While that is more manageable, the hospital has no available appointments. The man in question used to get his blood test done in St. Joseph's Hospital in Raheny but that facility is no longer available. There is a walk-in service in St. Vincent's University Hospital, which again means taking two buses and a Luas, but this is too far for him to travel. We are talking about an 85-year-old man who has a requirement for blood tests. He can avail of a blood test with his GP but he only has a GP card, so it would cost him €40 every time he has one done. He is struggling with the cost of living and he cannot afford to pay this. We have a population of 41,000 in Swords, of whom 10% are aged over 65 years. There should be a free blood testing service in place for people in Swords. The Government should ensure the new public primary healthcare centre in the town, which will be accessible to people in the wider Fingal East area, will have a free blood test service for people. Epilepsy Ireland works with over 45,000 people living with epilepsy across the country. It is a common condition, and while some people will need continued access to special care, others can be appropriately managed by primary care closer to home. Epilepsy Ireland is asking the Government to expand the chronic disease management programme to include epilepsy. I fully support that request.

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