Professor Steve Thomas:

The commitment to remove hospital inpatient fees was planned for the first year of Sláintecare. It is now being delivered in year six or year seven. It is not a very expensive thing to do. It was an early win that would have signalled the seriousness and commitment of the Government of the day to implement Sláintecare. It has no system implications other than a funding gap. I have no idea why it was not done but it is quite reasonable.