Dr. Sam Coulter-Smith:

The hospital groups give us an opportunity to use a hub-and-spoke model for the services we provide. For example, there is a new initiative between the Rotunda, Drogheda and Cavan in respect of perinatal pathology services. Cavan would not have sufficient numbers to justify a perinatal pathologist's appointment there. However, if one appointed a perinatal pathologist to the Rotunda to take responsibility for the services to Cavan, he or she could work alongside perinatal pathologists in the Rotunda, keep up to date on current practice and provide the services that were required in Cavan and Drogheda without being there. It is a question of dealing with the subspecialties in a hub-and-spoke model.