Dr. Don Thornhill:

We are here to speak about musculoskeletal disease which is the comprehensive term that includes symptoms such as chronic back pain and conditions such as arthritis and particularly to speak about increasing the participation of people with MSDs, musculoskeletal disorders, in the workplace and in everyday life. This has very important implications for competitiveness, jobs, economic performance, Exchequer finances as well as for the well-being and life satisfaction of MSD sufferers. The potential savings arising from the coherent programme which we will outline are of the order of €250 million, therefore this is not trivial. This is in the same ballpark as the estimate for the local property tax this year. We are concerned here with an issue that is potentially extremely important. That estimate does not include all the personal and economic benefits that would accrue from people with MSDs who, unfortunately, in many instances find themselves out of the workforce far too early and the benefits that would accrue to them if they were able to remain in the workforce. Our colleagues are Mr. John Church, chief executive of Arthritis Ireland who will open the presentation, Dr. Robert Ryan, occupational physician who represents the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland and Professor Oliver FitzGerald, a consultant rheumatologist at St. Vincent's Hospital and the lead on MSDs in the HSE.