Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 19 October 2016
Select Committee on the Future of Healthcare
The Cancer Strategy as a Case Study of Health Service Reform: Professor Tom Keane
9:00 am
Professor Tom Keane:
The agreement that was in place provided a framework for this discussion. As Deputies probably know, just having an agreement is not enough to make things happen. The engagement with the significant leadership within the health care unions was civil, helpful and supportive. There was much stuff that was really in the small print that was not necessarily in the agreement. It required a level of trust on both sides that we would keep our word. The last thing we wanted to do was to lose oncology staff when we wanted to retain them. Most of the issues were around relocation.