Mr. Damien McCallion:

I will start with that and Mr. Canavan can come in. Basically, with the new health regions, if you look at the factors that influence the performance of the system, whether it is access to theatre for surgery, having sufficient daycare beds or any aspect of cancer care, many of those are impacted by the wider pressures on the system. If appointments for surgery are cancelled, it is often because of emergency care pressures. Hence, the value of the regions would be to try to look across the entire system to make sure the cancer access is there. The NCCP will drive that new strategy and it will own that strategy with the Department of Health. It will be commissioned through the Department. From the HSE’s perspective, however, the NCCP will be at the fulcrum of it.

In the cervical plan process, our intention is that it will provide clear guidance to the regions on what it sees as the national priorities. The regions will develop their plans as part of the national service plan and they will then provide assurance around that to make sure the priorities are being addressed. That will be very important.