Dr. Denis McCauley:

One grouping which is important in the context of the pandemic is the public health doctors. Public health doctors have basically been working night and day during this period. All healthcare staff have put their shoulders to the wheel. Public health doctors have been in the background working non-stop to try to ameliorate the effect of the Covid-19 emergency.

Up to 50% of these public health doctors are due to retire. We need to attract public health doctors back into the system. There have been two reports. The last one was the Scally report, which recommended public health doctors be considered for or given consultant status. We have been advocating yearly for this. During the Covid-19 emergency these people have been working night and day, possibly to the detriment of their personal health. We are asking the Deputies to show respect for these people for two reasons. The first is that they deserve consultant speciality status. If they do not get that, we will have great difficulty getting replacements for the 50% of public health people who will retire.

The developed nations that have good public health systems have done better in the pandemic. They do a great deal of extra work, but for a safety valve, for future pandemics and even for the evolution of this pandemic we must have an effective public health service. The fact that public health doctors have not been given consultant status, as recommended over the past decade, is wrong.

To add to all that Ms Clyne said, in the context of the public health emergency, public health doctors should be respected with that contact so that we can ensure that service not only remains even static, but develops.