Mr. Tony O'Brien:

To return to your question, Chairman, if we look at what has happened in the health service in recent years, it is fair to say that across a number of metrics there have been very significant increases in efficiency and productivity in the health system. The average length of stay has been cut very dramatically. Day-of-surgery admission has increased very dramatically. The throughput in the acute medical assessment units and medical assessment units, the numbers of which I provided in my script, show that there is a huge change in the way substantial cohorts of the population are cared for. Despite of the extraction of so many staff, the level of activity is up. The absence rates are down significantly in recent years. They now stand, on average, at below comparators for the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. There are very significant improvements. That is not to say that there is perfection, because of course one never gets to that wonderful state, but this is not the health service that it was seven years ago. What we are describing in relation to the fair deal scheme - we must recall that the legislation was not in place back then - is that it is a self-contained process. The only mechanism by which the health service can provide long-term care for those who have been assessed through a very rigorous process as requiring it, is through a prescribed process from a set amount of money. Even if we had the money, we could not do it outside of that constraint, and should not. In fact, it would be unlawful to do so.