Mr. Martin Varley:

We had discussions with the private hospital associations, in terms of their executive and CEOs, at an early stage when we became aware of what was being proposed. We outlined all of our concerns vis-à-visthe need for a contract that would be practical and workable from a consultant point of view. That was during the latter half of March. If we cast our minds back to that time, the overwhelming view I got from those discussions was that there was a shortage of time and a lot of pressure, and people were trying to get an agreement. Members will have seen that in the media. We highlighted and flagged the problems, which become more apparent as the agreement went on. In particular, we stressed the need to deal with those problems.

In relation to the type of contract, it seems that health service management presented only one option and was absolutely inflexible therein. There was no room for us as an association to get a hearing on what were reasonable points. Even though we engaged with health service management from mid-March onwards, a significant hiatus arose between those discussions and follow-on discussions whereby there was not enough feedback and engagement from the officials until after the agreement was signed with the private hospitals. Unfortunately, an opportunity was lost in that period.