Professor Shane Higgins:

I thank the Senator for her questions. Regarding the first point made about the clinical appropriateness, I think we have all acknowledged - we certainly have acknowledged - that over the course of the last week this has caused enormous concern, where we had not previously seen such concern in respect of our interpretation. Turning to whether this phrase is to be defined or if it is to be completely removed, if it is to be defined, then that must be a non-exhaustive list of clinically-appropriate procedures which will be offered to a patient in the timeliest of fashions. Timely will of course come into this, and we certainly would facilitate a definition stating that, as we currently do, we will provide all services in a timely fashion to our patients. We will be more than happy to engage in this regard. As I said at the start, though, there are three stakeholders involved in this suite of documents, so they would all have to be engaged in any such endeavour.

Moving to the buildings and hospitals, we have been on our current site for more than 100 years. The most modern buildings on the site will be 100 years old by the time we move. It is clearly acknowledged in healthcare now that a building has a lifespan of 50 years to 75 years.