Professor Brian Lenehan:

Pathfinder, as the Chair alluded to, was piloted in Beaumont. The results have been optimistic with reducing bed days and conveyances to hospitals. Recruitment is at an advanced stage in that in both the allied health and the paramedic side of it. It is hoped it will be live in the near future. It will be, again, one of those small things that will build on incremental positive change for us. If there are fewer patients being conveyed to the hospital, we will have fewer attendances. It is to be hoped that translates to fewer admissions and fewer trolleys.

The more we learn from what has worked well in other groups, the better we will do. These challenges are not unique to University Limerick Hospitals Group. It could be representatives of any of the model 4 hospitals sitting here discussing these challenges. They are nearly universal in healthcare here, in the UK and in Europe at the moment. We will try to drive anything that is positive that we can implement with the appropriate resources.