Ms Suzanne Costello:

In public health, we are looking for a version of being able to get really good treatment in another jurisdiction in a timely manner. The public health version of that would be being able to co-operate closely in research and policy development for shared challenges. That is where the efficiency comes because we would both be investing smaller amounts of money to get a bigger outcome. Research is expensive. There are nuances to understand with the different policy environments, which are complex. In order to develop strong policy recommendations, they need to be understood.

There are other opportunities. They are somewhat outside our remit, but are definitely part of public health. They are things I referenced earlier, such as joint public health campaigns. We are in a difficult environment with misinformation, particularly about public health, at the moment and it is important that public health keeps a strong narrative of what the evidence is and keeps the trust of the public. The agencies, the HSE and PHA in Northern Ireland, have high levels of trust among the public but we now need to keep a strong narrative of information moving and communicate in the national dialogue. Joint public health campaigns are one of the things that can be done. We would be addressing the same challenge, attempting to share the cost and looking for efficiencies. As I referenced earlier, it is a question of alignment and partnership and trying to make each other better. As one moves forward with a different policy initiative, the other can possibly follow. That is the public health version of being able to get good treatment in another jurisdiction mnore quickly.