Dr. Sara Burke:

Yes. It was a small but important component of the original recommendation. It would not be possible for there to be universal access to public hospital care if private patients could get in more quickly. That would not be universal access because some people would be getting speedier, privileged access. The Government has tried many mechanisms that have failed to deliver on access to care in this way, so the introduction of public-only consultant contracts is a key component of the delivery of universal access to the public health system. It has been very slow. It was first recommended in 2017, the de Buitléir report recommended it in 2019 and we are still not quite out of the traps on it. I recently spoke at a conference with Mr. Robert Watt and the head of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, IHCA, and the mood music between them was very positive. They felt that within weeks, the contract would be agreed. The head of the IHCA indicated he expected a good uptake of the contract, especially among younger consultants.

The system will not move overnight to public-only consultants. Any consultants who sign a contract today, if they sign a public-private mix, will be able to continue with that mix for the rest of their lives. I think Deputy Shortall had to get Attorney General advice regarding the legality of it when we worked with the committee on this. It will take ten, 20 or 30 years to wash out the public-private mix contracts from the system and that will be a good safety net.