Dr. Rosemarie Watson:

I have met with several Ministers in the past 30 years. The HSE has come through for us over the years. The service is unrecognisable compared with what it was 30 years ago. We had patients who were using J Cloths with ointments on them for bandages. To its credit, the HSE has listened over time and given us funding for the adult and paediatric hospital services. We are deeply grateful for that. From that point of view, we compare very well with other countries in Europe. I will relate a story where we were very proud of what we had received. An American microbiologist lab technician came to St. James's Hospital. She was on holidays and got an illness that required surgery. She was in the emergency room, telling them about EB and was very worried because once you go into an operating room, you are asleep and have no control. People can damage you unwittingly with tape, blood pressure monitors and so on. She was telling them about the condition and the emergency room doctor told her she needed to see the EB specialist nurse. She said, "Oh my God, in all my years in America I have never met an EB nurse."