Professor Steve Thomas:

The critical issue is ensuring care is available when people need it. There is a strong commitment in Sláintecare on the wait time guarantees. The evidence is from other countries which brought down their waiting times quite significantly. One needs some kind of mechanism or guarantee whereby people then get an entitlement to care, be it through a strong accountability, as in the NHS, or through vouchers like in Portugal. Unless one has that accountability that there is a guarantee of care, then the system does not shift, no matter how much money one puts into it. System reconfiguration is necessary but not sufficient. One needs that culture of accountability and a culture of much more information availability on waiting times rather than just waiting lists which we do not currently have. One needs accountability to the public on how long waiting times are and much more accountability on the performance of different providers. That needs rebuilding. That is a strong component alongside the system expansion.