Dr. Austin Byrne:

It does not arise that patients in acute medical need would be turned away. That would be intolerable.

It is also intolerable that the contract has remained in a 1970s state where these blood tests were simply not utilised for routine care in the way they are today. That needs to be addressed with respect to the contract formation.

If we reflect on where did it go wrong, if we consider patient numbers from 2006 to 2007, we had about 1.4 million patients and I am referring to medical card patients. That number grew over the intervening years to approximately 2.1 million. The 2.1 million patients in 2014 were funded to a total amount that was less than the funding for the 1.4 million patients in the earlier period. Therefore, demand grew but funding fell. Funding allows for time and time allows us to see capacity and therefore, it is all interlinked. It is a simple see-saw process.