Dr. John-Paul Byrne:

I think there is an appetite for change among the doctors we deal with. A lot of the findings we have chime with what the Deputy is talking about - long hours, business case after business case and not getting anywhere with change. Engagement with our project highlights the doctors’ appetite for change. What our project wants to do is fill the gap between the management level and the front-line level. Many of the doctors we have spoken to say there is not enough information going from the front line to hospital management and the HSE regarding what change and resources are required. We have spoken to doctors, especially during Covid, when people have been dropping out through isolation or contracting Covid themselves. It can take a long time to get the staff that are required and it can take months to resource a team, but it is that kind of speed of response that is required. Our project wants to fill a gap that is there and that gap needs to be filled. That is what we would call organisational intelligence, which is what is happening on the ground, so the hospital management and HSE management know what is going on.