Dr. Patrick Owens:

The recommendation is to extend the hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, which is, effectively, an addition of 12 hours per week. The catheterisation lab would already regularly go over the current 5 p.m. deadline. I would not see 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. as a meaningful increase in the capacity of the lab. It certainly would not get within a mile of what is actually required; it would make no dent into that. Waiting lists have been in the news recently. A waiting list such as ours, which has accrued over the past three years, is directly as a result of a lack of capacity but an additional 12 hours a week would not address the pressures that have created that waiting list. It really would not even come close. One of the criticisms I would have of the Herity report is that the historical waiting list does not feature in it at all and the waiting list itself only features towards the end of the document. It is not included, at any stage, in the catchment calculations. There are patients who, by definition, have a need for the service and yet they are not identified in the calculations. The answer to the Deputy's question is that I would not see it making a great impact at all.