Ms Susan Clyne:

The Deputy can be assured that all healthcare workers at the front line are not only prepared to push but have been pushing for a long time for the facilities. The short answer is “No”, we are not prepared for an increase in services. We cannot even meet the demand on our services now. Capacity and recruitment are the issues.

At the end of the session I want to make a special appeal that it is absolutely immoral that our public health doctors, who for many years have been advised on foot of a report, as Dr. McAuley said earlier, that they should be treated as consultants, have been the ones who have been asked to manage the country through this pandemic which is not over and yet their issue remains to be resolved. I make a special appeal that this issue be resolved once and for all. Most people do not think about public health from one end of the decade to the next. It is something like this that shows the value and absolute necessity of a well-staffed and valued public health system.