Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the expert witnesses for their comprehensive presentations. I would like to respond briefly to Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who wanted to know about the pain experienced by a person with chronic pain. I happened by chance to attend the society's annual general meeting, which was held, as I recall, in the Convention Centre last year, and it is a day I will never forget. There were brilliant presentations, but I remember seeing the people there and many of them stood out. There were probably 300 in the room. One could feel their pain, and I do not mean that in a smart-alec way. They could hardly speak, they were so debilitated. I came away from that meeting and promised that day that I would try to help in some way. That is one of the reasons I pushed the Chairman to deal with this issue.

Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin referred to Australia, and I heard the expert from that area speak. Do countries such as England and Scotland recognise pain medicine, or do they have a pain management strategy?

Dr. Brian McGuire's name was mentioned. He stated that chronic pain is a significant cause of work absenteeism. I am pushing the witnesses to help us to make a case. Can they quantify the exact level of absenteeism it is causing? If sufferers were to receive pain therapy, would they return to work? Can they explain how we can make a difference to the lives of those people whom I saw at the meeting?

I wish to ask about the logistics of such treatment. I heard Professor O'Connor say there are only two main regional hubs delivering the system at present. There are pain specialists and pain therapists, but much of the treatment is being delivered by anaesthetists. I want to know about the logistics of it. Is the society going to have pain therapists, anaesthetists and both together, which would be a three-tiered system? If the anaesthetists who want to continue in pain therapy are taken out of the system and go to work in the area of pain therapy, who will carry the can for the anaesthetists that are left in the hospitals? I have heard a number of people raise this issue.

Professor O'Connor and Ms Sexton spoke about the hub-and-spoke model. For that to work, a whole team is required. It is not the case that a sufferer goes into a unit, gets an injection and then goes out the door. A whole team and a rota of pain consultants are needed. Qualified specialist registrars are needed to refill spinal pumps and qualified pain nurses are also needed. Is that the type of service to which the witnesses were referring when they spoke about regional hubs in each of the areas and, if so, have they carried out a cost benefit analysis and do they have a figure for what it would cost the taxpayer?