Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, the Committee on the Future of Healthcare report was launched. It is a comprehensive report looking at a ten-year vision for the health service rather than going from year to year and trying to move from our two-tier system to a single-tier model. Does Dr. Coffey see the removal of private care in public hospitals as a positive or a negative in the treatment of cancer? As a committee, we were looking at a system which is not really working very effectively in the global sense. We will change it. We are concerned that if we destabilise it, there may be negative rather than positive consequences initially. We built a continuing review into our programme so that if changes are leading to a worsening of treatment for our patients, we will have to row back and look at the sequencing and phasing of it. What is Dr. Coffey's view on the mix of public and private in the public system?