Mr. Liam Woods:

Yes, I agree. I am sure the Chairman is aware that it is clearly identified in the Health at a Glance data and in the submissions that were made to the Committee on the Future of Healthcare that the number of doctors in this jurisdiction, by comparison with other jurisdictions, is very low. The data for obstetrics are visible and available as part of our own background work and the work of the programme on obstetrics. We can see the data clearly. We are aware that there is a need to increase the number of obstetricians, as we heard again earlier. The challenge for us in that regard is to ensure the resources are there to provide for an increase. There is a timescale issue as well. I am sure the committee is aware that the timescale for the recruitment of a consultant is approximately 12 months. It is important that we start as soon as we can after the funding is made available to us. Having spoken to clinical colleagues in obstetrics, I am aware that we will need a phased programme of recruitment over a number of years to build those numbers up. There is no doubt that it is one of the key tenets of the strategy.