Ms Eilísh Hardiman:

The operating model for the hospital as it is being proposed and as we are trying to staff and develop it does not include the outsourcing of services to private companies, as the Deputy outlined. I am familiar with this within the system. Having said that, we will obviously be contracting cleaning, catering and other support services, as would be expected in a hospital.

It is important to add that the hospital has been designed to be flexible in the next 20 years, to the degree that we can project where future technology is going. That is very important because of the investment being made. We have contributed to the design and obtained advice from other colleagues that have built hospitals on how to keep the design as flexible as possible because we know that services will develop. We know that services being provided in the United Kingdom and internationally will be repatriated. We have projected and identified where new service developments will occur. I am glad to say we are actually making progress in new service developments that we will be able to accommodate. While there is a risk and I appreciate new technology is moving very fast, it is important to give an assurance that the investment has been designed to allow flexibility to accommodate the new model of care.