Dr. Killian Hurley:

When trying to plan what would work as a clinical care programme, we do not need to reinvent the wheel. There are many other examples out there. The first step is listening to patients about what they need. What we do need is a registry. A big part of that is understanding where the patients are, what kind of care they are receiving and what kind of care they should receive. Second, we need to deliver care to patients close to where they live. That needs to be a multidisciplinary team including a nurse, doctor, physio and all the other people who care for people with a complex disease. We need a governing structure, which is where the care programme comes in. We need an advocate for that patient group, which needs to be someone who can look at the outcomes for patients and if they are on the right treatments. They should measure that as well so that we can know if we are treating the right patients, at the right time and in the right place, as we would like to do with Sláintecare.