Mr. Damien Donoghue:

From the lived experience of my partner having to go to the UK, as a clinician I have my clinician's hat on. Having quite extensive surgery and travelling back and forth is not ideal. There is also a disconnect in that people have gone to another clinician, which is not ideal in terms of follow-on care. While people are getting the best possible treatment, there is a disconnect, in particular after surgery. Sometimes patients are left to suffer. That is a big concern. There are avenues for funding, but they are not visible to everybody. It is not equitable. Having equality for everybody to access the best possible care and making sure there is a pathway and connection between the different centres is important. In terms of approaching different centres, people have to move all of their diagnostic tests and so on back and forth. Thankfully, we are in an age where technology is facilitating that more easily now, but it creates barriers and challenges which we need to eliminate. I am not advocating that we ship our problems away, but people are going abroad and we have to make sure they are being looked after in the best possible manner in terms of their aftercare and that there is that kind of interconnection.