Mr. Liam Woods:

In the early stages of this, as the Secretary General said, the decision of Government was that there would be a singular response to what was a clear and pressing public demand, and that included a type A contract, which is a public-only contract. That is the contract the consultants I referred to signed up to. Signing it was voluntary of course, and a significant number of consultants chose not to do so. They had the capacity to continue their own outpatient practice outside of this arrangement.