Healthcare Policy
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-17
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Nessa Cosgrove (LAB), Labour Panel

I thank the Minister of State. Given her husband's condition, she knows about this issue. It is a condition that gets worse as it goes on. Times have definitely changed with regard to treatment, and it is now done through education. Both my mother and father have had knees and hips replaced. However, my mother would have been told not to do any exercise, whereas we are at least told that much now. What is interesting with the GLA:D programme is that because it is a group exercise and it is done in primary care centres by physiotherapists, all it needs is additional funding for it to be rolled out in counties that are willing to have it. My GP is in a fabulous primary care service. It needs additional money so that physiotherapists are not only trained in this programme, but have the capacity to deliver it on a group basis. It is easier to do work like that in a group setting because it requires an holistic approach.
As I said, knee operations in both public and private care push up the cost of medicine. It has been proven in countries like Denmark that early intervention is preferable, and surgery should be a last resort. Unfortunately, in Ireland, we are still told that it is inevitable that people are going to have to get their knees replaced. I thank the Minister of State for listening.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-17