Mr. Neil Guckian:

Ms Gildernew will be well aware the Our Hearts Our Minds programme is not part of the CAWT programme. It is a separate transformational project that is being delivered within the Western Health and Social Care Trust. Our priority on that is to try to convince our funders in Northern Ireland of the merits of that. I can confirm the Western Health and Social Care Trust has shared both the benefits and indeed the service impact and post-project evaluation of all trusts in Northern Ireland and the Commissioner and the Department of Health. It is important we do that before we start trying to spread it across the Border. As members have already been told, it is all about innovation and we must prove the innovation can be spread before we can look to bring it across borders. That is the Our Hearts Our Minds programme. As we are still looking for the funding for next year, any influence Ms Gildernew can have we will obviously appreciate.

On physician associates, we have piloted that in the Western Health and Social Care Trust. Indeed, my previous employer, the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust has been piloting physician associates. It is too early to say whether it is the overall solution to shortages of GPs, or indeed consultants, middle grades and juniors in hospitals in Northern Ireland, or indeed the South. The recruitment of qualified medical staff, be they GPs or consultants, is very challenging. On the physician associates, the jury is still out as far as the impact it will have is concerned. We are committed to the programme and will see at the end of that whether it will be the answer. I see it as part of the future if we can define the role very well and define what element of the medical service they should deliver to reduce the workload of our consultant workforce. On the shortage of GPs, Ms Gildernew and I have had many conversations about it, especially the shortage in rural areas. It is problem common to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and clearly it is something CAWT can link into. We struggle for the solutions. The innovative side to it is really the challenge. It is about trying to find the answers to that. Where we have a common problem, CAWT can be really influential and helpful to us in solving common problems.