Professor Sean Tierney:

There needs to be a sensible use of resources. What we need to look at in regard to services - we have heard this point in regard to community services - is that people who need services can access them. I do not believe one needs a great many staff or services standing by waiting for an event; there needs to be some geographic pooling. Some progress has already been made. I understand we will hear an announcement next week on the establishment of networks and an efficient sharing of services across multiple sites on the secondary care sector. In the sense that we would like to see these services available, we do not necessarily mean that there be a specific service in every single location.