Ms Susan Clyne:

There are a number of factors. One is that we are coming from ten years of underspend. That takes time to get it right. There is also the model by means of which we deliver our health service, which is costly. Some of these issues are addressed in Sláintecare and also in the health capacity review. Healthcare costs money and we do have to accept this. More complex healthcare costs more money. As technologies change and drugs and new treatments become available, they will cost money. We should not be driving for our healthcare costs to be reduced. We should spend money appropriately but the model of care must change. We must also recognise that we have had ten years of no service development, a growing population and more complex care. Those who work in the health service have delivered incredibly good work in very difficult conditions during this time. This needs to be acknowledged, and it is not acknowledged very often.