Professor Brian Lenehan:

We may have differing opinions. A model 3 hospital is a significant hospital. It needs a significant number of hospital beds for it to be an effective model 3 hospital. Personally, I believe University Hospital Limerick has to be adequately resourced as a model 4 hospital. Then we need a scheduled care facility so that scheduled care is not interrupted by unscheduled care. They are both different to the need for a model 3 hospital or a model 3S hospital. We need to have all of our specialist services and all of our high-acuity services on one site. If we look at other jurisdictions, they have one large hospital for a massive population of millions. What we do not want to do is dilute the expertise across the region.