Mr. Val Moran:

There does. We are in favour of universal healthcare but the timeframe that has been mentioned is very tight. The quid pro quo is access to GP services. At the moment, even within the system that we have people cannot access the GP and in many areas they cannot get on a GMS list or must wait for a period. We need to increase that capacity before we can really look at anything. We already have commitments relating to the under-12s and moving on to children aged six and seven and going through that. That is a starting point and we need to look at how that affects capacity as we go through that and roll that out in a measured fashion. If we increase the capacity that will be fantastic but if we are unable to do that properly then we are just going to create waiting lists within general practice and the situation will be a lot worse than it is now. There is no point in having free care if one cannot see a GP or must wait for two weeks to see a GP.

Obviously we are in favour of universal healthcare but it needs to be done in a measured fashion where we are able to say, and assess at each juncture, what is the capacity now, what is the likely effect of the introduction of further free GP care, and whether we have enough capacity to do that in a safe fashion, which is going to increase access in an equitable manner for all citizens. At the moment, we have a hybrid system and it is not perfect but waiting times are nowhere near what they are in the NHS. We are aware that the NHS has 1.1 GP per 1,000 population so we need to significantly increase capacity. It is something that we should all aim for in as quick a manner as possible but also in as safe a manner as possible. If we introduce a situation where a patient cannot see a GP within a certain timeframe then that is a dangerous situation to be in. We need to be very careful on this and we need to do this in a planned fashion. Putting a timeline on that is difficult. We need to see how the measures take place and to see whether capacity is being increased in a measured way, and if it is, then we would proceed on to the next stage.