Mr. Robert Watt:

In both cases, we remind them of the agreed position. If consultants have given commitments and are being paid a salary from the public purse to deliver those commitments, then we expect those commitments to be honoured. We do not understand why that is not the case. If we have a system where somebody is meant to perform various functions or have a balance between public and private patients in terms of their time, then that should be delivered. Systems should be in place to record and establish what the position is and then the policy should be implemented. We have outlined to the Department of Health our views on this and indeed the Department shares our perspective. We need to ensure that people deliver on the contracts they have entered into.