Dr. John-Paul Byrne:

We did not ask specifically about the Sláintecare contract but it came up in our conversations. Where the respondents brought up the contract, the issues they had were not about pay but about autonomy over their own time, so again getting back to the work-life balance and that sense of stability. One participant said they did not want to move around for their rest of their life and just wanted to be at home, and by a reasonable hour. This sense of stability and autonomy over their own lives and working times was a huge issue. From their perspective of the Sláintecare contract, it felt like they were being confined to uncertainty for longer.