Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

Personally, absolutely not. To me they are employees; they are important but employees nonetheless. A different culture has been around for a number of years around consultants and that is changing over time. Their contract has changed over time. In some hospitals, no doubt, the culture remains. Consultants are, in some cases, rightly revered. In some cases there may be genuine reasons they have not been able to attend to this fully. There are a number of individuals who we are either going to be able to reach out to, support and realise change or we may have to consider alternative strategies. We must remember, of course, that the notion in the first place that the statutory charge is dependent on having to help a consultant collect his or her private fees is in some ways perhaps questionable in itself. It is the task we have been given.