Mr. Paul Bell:

If I may add to my colleague's remarks, whether we like this or not, ten years in the health service are a short period. By 2030, according to the World Health Organization, we will be short 15 million health workers globally. People think that refers to the developing world or non-developed world, whatever term one uses. The biggest stresses will be in the provision of health service in the community. If we accept that, and my colleague, Ms Marie Butler, has outlined it clearly, the healthcare assistant has to have a place in assisting in the delivery of health service while not being in competition with any other professional group. The greater the expectation for community care, the more healthcare assistants there must be. It means the ambulance service must provide a different service from what it and its professionals provide.

We believe there must be a concerted effort to make sure that healthcare assistants and their equivalents in community care are properly regulated so that it is understood that when people are providing health services in vulnerable people's homes, there is governance, even from a regulatory body. That is important on the basis of where healthcare is going, and especially in line with Sláintecare.