The agency will be in a position to provide a quality improvement focus across a range of health care settings. The main priorities will be to ensure that patients, their families and their carers experience high quality care and ensuring the provision of care that is safe and protects patients from harm. The agency will seek to ensure that the care provided is effective and based on the best available evidence. The establishment of the PSA will be included in the work programme in the service plan for 2014.

The Deputy mentioned the insurance fund. As the Deputy is aware, the Government is making a number of changes in regard to the health system, the aim of which is to deliver a single tier health service supported by universal health insurance where there is fair access to service based on need and not on ability to pay. Under the UHI system everybody will be insured with their choice of insurer and will have equal access to a standard package of primary and acute hospital services, including acute mental health services. A new insurance fund will subsidise or pay insurance premiums for those who qualify for a subsidy. I confirm for the Deputy that intensive work is under way on the completion of the White Paper on universal health insurance, which will provide more detail on the UHI model.

When will that be?

I expect it shortly.

The Deputy also raised the issue of the integrated care agency. The document Future Health - A Strategic Framework for Reform of the Health Service 2012 - 2015, published in November 2012, recognises that the current hospital centric model cannot deliver the quality of care that is required by our people at a price the country can afford. For that reason, Government has set about creating a new integrated model of care that treats patients at the lowest level of complexity in a way that is safe, timely, efficient and as close to home as possible. Crucially, that new integrated model will help to ensure that services are better co-ordinated around the individual needs of patients. As outlined in that, it is intended that a new health care commissioning agency will fulfil the functions of an integrated care agency. The forthcoming White Paper on UHI will give further detail on that.

The Deputy mentioned the new GP contract.

Who wrote that?

The Government is committed to introducing a universal GP service by 2016 as an essential component of introducing universal health insurance. As announced in the budget, it has been decided to commence the roll-out of the universal GP service by providing all children aged under five with access to a GP service without fees. The implementation of this particular measure will require primary legislation. The Department and the HSE are examining that in terms of the changes which need to be made to the GMS contract to facilitate the introduction of universal primary care. That new GP contract will focus on prevention and will include a requirement for GPs to provide care as part of an integrated multidisciplinary series of primary care teams. The formulation of the new contract will have regard to the constraints of Irish and EU competition law, in particular in regard to the setting of fees and allowances. The Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, met the Irish Medical Organisation earlier this year and outlined the Government's policy in regard to primary care. Obviously, he will engage with personnel in the coming weeks in regard to details of that contract. Deputy Healy-Rae asked about the fair deal scheme, about which I am sure he will ask later. All of this will be sent to Deputy Martin today.