Ms Magdalen Rogers:

To put it simply, they have to travel. We have had a number of meetings with patient advocates who have described that experience. There are parents of young families and people having to take a day off work to accompany someone to a hospital appointment. It is important to remember that, with neurological conditions, it is not just six months or a year and treatment is over. We have people who have been travelling for neurology appointments a couple of times a year for 20 or 30 years. That is a significant period of their lives, and those of the carers who have to accompany them. It may involve people taking a day off work, people getting up extremely early and facing the Galway traffic, which, I believe, is another significant issue. Some people have to travel for specialist care, but a lot of these people have a confirmed neurological diagnosis. There is no reason they could not be seen by an outreach neurology service once they have their diagnosis.