Mr. Kilian McGrane:

The difficulty for us is recruitment. There is not a bank of trained stenographers available. In radiography there is specialised training in ultrastenography as one pathway, while there is another for midwives to train and do the masters programme. We met with the provider of the masters programme recently and we will continue to collaborate. I would love to be able to say definitively but, as our opening statement said, we do expect most of this to be addressed in the next 18 months. We will keep a very close eye on it and try to ensure the pathway for women improves even where we have not got 100% access in place.

Deputy O'Reilly also raised the topic of benign gynaecology, which Deputy Kelly asked about last year and which Dr. McKenna will address shortly. It was never envisaged that benign gynaecology would form part of the maternity strategy. It was acknowledged that it needed to be managed within the women and infants programme and my colleague has started a process to develop a strategic plan for it. The only way we can approach it is to adopt a similar methodology to the national cancer control programme, where there are specific timeframes whether a case is urgent or less urgent and we are resourced to meet those timeframes. It is very damaging to women who have a condition with which they have to live for prolonged periods.