Mr. John O'Dwyer:

We might share some of the questions between us. I will deal with the questions regarding our claims and the money that is in the system. We agree with Mr. Clancy that public hospitals' submission is much slower. I do not have the exact figures to hand but it might be four or five months. It is longer than the figure quoted by Mr. Clancy. The figure for private hospitals is around 30 days. However, I am reliably informed that hospitals that have introduced the new process have improved. It is worth noting that we as insurers, particularly Laya Healthcare, Aviva Health Insurance and ourselves, have used an electronic claiming mechanism over the past year or year and a half. We are very keen to make this as efficient as possible and are piloting with a few private hospitals.

It is our interests that we know when the amounts are due for many planning reasons and we want to handle claims as smoothly and as best we can. The industry is keen to make absolutely sure it happens. For public hospitals the time is closer to six months.