Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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I thank Cliona, Marita and Paul for their input. The National Treatment Purchase Fund is a symptom of the crisis. It is like putting homeless families into hotels and paying a huge amount of money to deal with the issue. For the last number of years, we have seen the HSE, for example, in the case of children with scoliosis send them to hospitals in Britain to get the surgery they require. That is one of the problems we have to examine as part of our consideration of a universal health plan.

The witnesses spoke about acute care, primary care and social care. Social care provision is probably crucial, particularly with the demographics of our ageing population and older people needing care. It is expected there will be an increase in the demand for such care. I have had experience of a person being in hospital who could not be released unless they went into a nursing home or into a home-care situation. All that has to be arranged beforehand with the social worker dealing with the patient and it takes a period of time for the person to be released as they go to a step-down facility and from there to the home-care situation. It is a matter of linking all that together. As was mentioned, we need to ask what are the outcomes and to work back from that and say what is needed to work around it.

Another major problem will be the issue of consultants and other groups that have a vested interest in private health insurance. We as a committee have to present a model that people buy into and say that is the type of health service that we need and want and then we would move people into that. That will be the big task for us. Then there is the follow-up to that as regards the amount of money needed to pay for it. I would like to get the views of the witnesses on that.