Mr. Neil Guckian:

It is important that patients have access to services as much as possible. I am already on record as saying the waiting lists are too long in Northern Ireland. If people can get the services elsewhere and if the Northern Ireland Government can facilitate this then on a personal level I would be very supportive of it. It is a policy decision and will be up for renewal as the time approaches. I hope we can maintain this approach. It is all about treating patients and getting patients treated more quickly. I highlight the work in the South West Acute Hospital where we even brought in the private sector to do 160 hip operations. Normally, bringing the private sector into public buildings would be an extremely unpopular thing to do to but, quite frankly, I do not have that luxury at present when so many people are on waiting lists. We have to think of the patients first. I would like to think of it as a starting point for commissioning more services in the South West Acute Hospital so our unused theatre slots can be commissioned fully. I hope we will continue to be able to demonstrate a fantastic service.