Ms Mary Day:

In response to Deputy Kelleher's question about the structure of the hospital group, I would suggest that there are two elements - structure and implementation. When I look at the structure of my group, my key component is how I implement this structure. I use connectivity for that. The Ireland East hospital group is in a unique position in that it has two large teaching hospitals, three model 3 hospitals, two model 2 hospitals and a number of key voluntary specialty models. To answer the specific question about Navan, we talk about how smaller hospitals need larger hospitals for safer patient care and the right patient in the right place at the right time, which is true. Likewise, larger hospitals need smaller hospitals to deliver the appropriate care. The Mater hospital never had the opportunity it has now in relation to Navan where we can deliver elective, non-complex surgery within Our Lady's Hospital in Navan because we never had that construct until now. We are doing that in Our Lady's Hospital in Navan. We are looking at surgeons from the Mater hospital going to Our Lady's Hospital in Navan and delivering surgery there. Not only does it provide that connectivity, it also gives a boost to Our Lady's Hospital where expertise can be seen coming down that connects them to a much larger connectivity model.