Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

That is a welcome development, however late in the day. The phrase "less risky" also refers to less effective, if we want a national system. There have been considerable delays in that regard.

I want to raise the issue of integrated workforce planning, which only seems to have come on the agenda in very recent times in the health service, even though it has been raised by the committee on numerous occasions. Regarding the requirement for integrated workforce planning, rather than just doctors, there are obviously implications in respect of the enhanced community care programme and having a complete range of healthcare workers available to implement that in full. Equally, regarding the implementation of the consultant contract, having other healthcare workers to enable the work of additional consultants is an issue. Will Mr. Gloster or Mr. Watt speak to us about that and what is being done?